The Adventures of Adrienbug and Chat Mari
by Wintermoth
Summary: The shenanigans of the cat girl and the bug boy, aka the powerswap AU no one asked for but everyone wanted. (Now featuring: episode rewrites!) Cover by hchano on tumblr.
1. L'appel du Vide - The Lucky Bug

**All aboard the powerswap AU train aka The Adventures of Adrienbug and Chat Mari. Right now all I foresee is this being a bunch of oneshots, maybe some two shots. We'll see.**

 **(Special thanks to KryallaOrchid for badgering me into doing this and basically being awesome and helping me get this off the ground. And thanks to the Miraculous Ladyscrubs for just generally being awesome and excited about this whole thing.)**

* * *

Adrien was still getting used to the whole superpowers thing.

After all, it's not every day he's approached by a tiny sprite who tells him that he's been chosen to bear the mantle of Ladybug before pressing a magical stone into his hand. A stone that turns into a white ring before his eyes that fits perfectly and just so happens to be a conduit for superpowers.

After the shock from the initial oh-my-god-this-is-actually-real transformation wore off, the tiny sprite, who introduced herself as Tikki, had been very supportive. She'd answered all his questions patiently. What she was, what he had to do, and most importantly: why him? She even gave him some pointers on how his abilities would work. The rest, however, he would have to learn through experience. Fair enough, he reasoned. Besides, he couldn't deny the prospect of learning thrilled him.

After seven nights of running across the rooftops of Paris, he could confidently say he was beginning to get the hang of things.

As Ladybug, he could do flips and tricks his body had never done before. He was strong, strong enough to tip a car lying on its side back upright without too much effort. He could leap farther than he ever had and his baton could help him with the jumps he couldn't quite make. He was faster, more agile. Most importantly: he was _**free**_.

No father to brush him off or empty space where his mother should be; no staff giving him looks of pity, no photographers barking at him. No older models looking down on him with distaste or annoyance, the young rich boy who'd made it in the business only because of daddy. No one telling him what to do, where to go. No one hissing at him to _smile_ and _stand up straight_. Just him, the wind, the night, all of Paris. It was exhilarating.

Adrien decided to break his new powers before this threat Tikki warned him about reared its head. He stopped petty crimes—muggings mostly and one attempted car theft—and he was in an out before anyone had time to process what they were seeing. If he witnessed an accident, he would rush in to provide assistance, before disappearing back into the ether. When he lingered long enough to be seen there were questions, awe-struck gazes, but he never responded to either. This was all still too new. He wasn't sure exactly how the public would view him or who Ladybug should be. All he had to go off of were comics and TV shows, none of which were very helpful in real life scenarios, but all accounts indicated that he had to be extremely careful while introducing himself to the public. He hadn't been labeled a vigilante yet so he thought that was promising.

Eight days after he first transformed was when he truly came into the spotlight. It was also the day the first akuma attacked.

As Adrien, he had been utilizing some precious free time by taking a long walk with no particular destination in mind. Tikki was nestled in the pocket of his jacket and he couldn't help but smile every time he became aware of her comforting weight. Then he'd heard screaming and, at Tikki's suddenly urgent insistence, had ducked out of sight to transform.

What ensued was his first battle (an actual _battle_ , with an actual _super villain,_ and oh my god this was his life) against a young woman called the Piper who could control people by playing her clarinet. It didn't work on him, thankfully, or he'd have been in serious trouble. All by himself, however, against thirty hypnotized civilians and the Piper, he quickly began to realize that this whole superhero thing wasn't going to be easy. He thought if he could just get to Piper, destroying her clarinet would be a cinch, and then he could purify the akuma and fix everything the way Tikki had taught him. But between her and him was her small army of innocent, _breakable_ victims.

 _Can't go around it, can't go under it, can't go_ through _it…_

 _Gotta go above it._

With this realization came Tikki's encouraging whispers in his mind, urgent instructions on how to use her magic to give him the upper hand. Next thing he knew, there were wings, actual _wings_ , on his back and he was flying. In flight combat would undoubtedly be an acquired skill but fortunately for him, he didn't need to fight in the air just yet. He flew up and over the heads of her victims and suddenly he was in the perfect position to seize the clarinet from Piper's hands, cutting her off mid-song.

He felt bad for doing it but Tikki had told him the only way to lure out the akuma was to break the object it was hiding in, so he snapped the clarinet in two across his knee. Moments later, a black butterfly emerged from one of the broken pieces and fluttered towards freedom. Dropping the broken instrument and ignoring the piercing cry of the akuma beneath him who knew she'd been defeated, he closed his hands around the corrupted spirit before it could escape. Then he removed one hand, pulling against the taint he could feel within. Darkness seeped out, leaving behind a pure white butterfly. It took to the air once more and this time he sent it off with a friendly wave. The taint he sealed away inside his baton and then, with Tikki whispering in his mind once more, he flew into the air to release the magic from his wings.

In the light that followed, everything the akuma had done was undone. Damage was mended, the victims were freed, and the Piper reverted to a woman no older than twenty who looked around in confusion.

Ladybug had descended then, the magic of his wings fading away. The clock was ticking now. He had minutes left before his transformation would time out. He should use those minutes to get himself as far away from here as possible but he couldn't bring himself to leave the scene just yet. The woman who had been the Piper was on her feet and staring at him in shock and the sight made him remember Tikki's words. These akumas, these villains, were nothing more than ordinary people whose pain had been exploited in the worst way. She was as innocent as the Piper's victims.

So Ladybug crossed the distance separating them, ever mindful of the eyes on him, the phones recording every second, and ducked his head apologetically. "I'm sorry," he said.

"Did I do something?" she asked in a tiny voice.

Ladybug shook his head quickly. "No. It wasn't you, not really."

Her eyes widened, searching his intently. "There was…a man's voice. He…said he could…that I could…"

"It's over now," Ladybug assured her.

The woman looked down at the now whole clarinet that she clutched tightly in her hands. He could now see that three fingers on her right hand seemed to be mangled. There was no way she could play the clarinet like that. The Piper had had no such deformity. Then he understood.

At that moment, however, his miraculous gave a warning beep and one of the five spots on the face winked out of sight.

Wordlessly, he placed his hand on her shoulder for a moment, and offered her the kindest smile he could. Then he backed away, pulled his baton from its holster on his lower back, and used it to propel himself onto the nearest rooftop just before the crowd surged forward.

Maybe he could've done more but people weren't really Adrien's strong suit. He truly didn't know anything he could've said that would've alleviated her pain. And that's exactly what he told Tikki later on when they were alone in his room, away from all eyes and ears.

"Why did you pick _me_?" he asked for the third time since they'd met.

"I've told you: you were worthy," Tikki replied simply and took another bite of the chocolate chip cookie she held in her tiny hands.

Adrien sighed and flopped face-first onto his bed. "What does that even mean?"

Tikki didn't answer. He loved the little kwami already and he appreciated how eager she had been to help him understand everything but it annoyed him that she wouldn't give him a straight answer on this one, crucially important thing.

He sighed once more, lifted his head, and his eyes flicked over to the window he used to sneak out of his room at night. He could go out tonight but he was exhausted and he wanted to keep his head down until he was sure he wasn't going to have the vigilante label slapped on him. He didn't think he would, not after he'd been witnessed saving so many people from the Piper.

The poor Piper.

"She must have been so sad," he murmured. "Her hand didn't—I mean—the injury didn't seem very old. How could someone do that to someone who was hurting?"

"I don't know," Tikki said. "It's not something I can understand either. I never could. But that's what Hawk Moth does, that's what he _always_ does, and that's why you're here."

"I wish I could've helped her."

"You freed her."

"Yeah, but, I feel like I could've helped her more." He propped himself up on his elbows. "I just left her there and she must've still been in pain. Freeing her didn't change whatever upset her in the first place. But what do you even say to something like that?"

Tikki floated over to him, stuffing the last piece of cookie into her mouth, and placed her hands on either side of his nose. "That's why."

He went cross-eyed trying to look at her and she floated back a few inches. "Why what?"

"That's why you're worthy, Adrien."

He blinked a few times as understanding dawned on him and then he felt his cheeks heating up. "Oh."

The number one story on every news outlet in Paris that night (and even a few from other parts of the country) was the battle and the red and black superhero who'd stopped it. Adrien and Tikki watched the reports with interest on his computer, laughing to themselves at the speculations and theories being tossed out.

When they showed pictures of him from different angles taken on many different cell phones, Adrien couldn't help but appreciate how cool he looked in the suit. He hadn't had a chance to really look at himself since he didn't think it wise to linger in the mansion for long as Ladybug. The front of his torso, arms, hands, and the entirety of his legs were black. On the flipside his suit was red with black polka dots, very much like a real ladybug, which ended at his waist where the belt holding his staff was, and the whole ensemble was topped off with a polka dotted mask to hide his identity.

When footage of his battle played, however, he winced. "That was hard, Tikki."

"I know," she sighed and placed her hand on his cheek. "I'm sorry."

"Didn't you say something about there being others like me?"

Tikki hummed in affirmation. "It's a little complicated, but yes, there are others."

"Is there any way to get ahold of them? I mean, I'm not sure I can do this on my own. There were so many things that could've gone wrong today. I got lucky."

"That tends to happen when you have lucky powers," she pointed out jovially.

"I guess," he grumbled.

Tikki floated around into his line of sight, a rueful smile on her face. "I really am sorry. There should've been another by now. Here. Unfortunately, cats don't always come when they're called." She folded her tiny arms and poor Adrien was left with more questions than Tikki had answers to give.

The following evening, he decided he wanted to practice flying. He'd spent over an hour that day watching videos and reading up on how birds and insects were able to fly. He'd gotten some basic mechanics during his fight but he wanted to make sure he understood the theory behind the skill before he decided to try it out several hundred feet above the ground.

Tikki assured him he'd have plenty of time with his wings and would have plenty of warning in advance so he could land safely as long as he didn't overexert himself and didn't forcefully expel magic into the Cleansing Light. Maybe half an hour or so. He made sure she was full to the brim and he had a bag of fresh snicker doodles in his pocket before transforming.

He chose the rooftop of the school near his house to bring his wings out. He hadn't had a chance to appreciate them the day before and he hadn't dared bring them out in his room. Trust that to be the only time his father paid attention to him this week. The lights of the city glinted off them creating an ethereal effect that seemed almost magical and there was definitely an underlying red hue to them. They were just slightly longer than his arms, paper thin, and while they didn't seem strong enough to bear his weight, he could feel the power thrumming through them.

He had barely finished wondering exactly how to get his wings to move before they fluttered and _wow_ that felt weird. He didn't have the same awareness of them that he had of his natural limbs but he could definitely feel them there and he could tell when they were still and when they weren't. Cool. That'd make things easier.

Ladybug flew off the roof with relative ease and he spent a minute above the school to get his bearings and then he shot off through the sky.

It took him exactly ten seconds to realize how wrong he'd been before. Running across rooftops was great but this— _this_ was freedom. He was flying faster than he'd ever run and he knew he could go even faster. The wind whipped against him and he could feel it stinging his face where he was unprotected by his mask, but his eyes remained unaffected, and he wasn't even going to bother trying to figure out how that worked. Gravity pulled but he resisted. He dipped and dive. Twisted, spun, and flipped. Contorting his body in every which way and figuring out how his wings responded.

He landed on the very top of the Eiffel Tower to catch his breath and turned around slowly, taking in the sight of his city in all its glory. He felt a grin stretch across his face even as his chest heaved. Then he threw back his head and let out a loud whoop that echoed through the open space. (Unbeknownst to him, a tourist below had captured his arrival on camera, as well as his exuberant cry, and the video would be all over social media by morning.)

Ladybug took off again a few minutes later, heading in the opposite direction of home. He really had no destination in mind, he just wanted to fly. And if he happened to spot an emergency somewhere along the way, well, then, he'd be ready.

As it happened, it wasn't an emergency that caught his attention.

In the last week, Ladybug had unofficially claimed the rooftops of Paris as his territory. Sure people went onto the roofs all the time for various things but they didn't run across them. Didn't jump and duck and weave around the obstacles as if it were second nature. Didn't vault across the spaces between rooftops. He didn't know if ladybugs were territorial creatures but he assumed they had to be because he certainly had never been, yet the sight of a dark figure running across _his turf_ like they owned the place made him frown and tear off after them before he even realized what he was doing.

It could be a guy doing parkour, the more logical part of his mind reasoned. He didn't blame them. It was quite the rush. Nothing to get all fussy over.

As he neared, he was able to pick out a few details. The person was small and lithe, probably a girl, and they seemed totally at ease as they navigated the complex obstacle course before them. The figure sped up as they neared the edge of the line of rooftop and threw themselves out into the open air. Ooh, yeah, definitely a girl, and were those cat ears on top of her head? She arced her body, hands extending forward (oh my god she had a _tail_ ) to take the impact when she landed and instead of righting herself, she bounded forward on all fours.

What the hell?

Was this another akuma? Already?!

Didn't that prick have better things to do than abuse people?

Except, the cat girl didn't seem to be doing anything wrong. She wasn't terrorizing anyone, she wasn't breaking anything, she didn't seem upset at all. Actually, and he couldn't be sure because he couldn't see her face, but she looked like she was having the time of her life. There was just a certain flare in her movements that he recognized. He knew right then that these rooftops weren't just his anymore.

" _There should've been another by now. Here. Unfortunately, cats don't always come when they're called."_

"Oh my god," he blurted out loudly. Fortunately, the wind snatched his words away before they could reach the cat girl's ears.

Was he really this lucky? He stared at her for a moment longer, scrambling to collect his thoughts and contain the excited shout threatening to escape. If this was real, if she was what he thought, then that meant he wasn't alone anymore. That girl down there, she would be able to understand the utter insanity that was his life now.

Maybe she could even be his friend…

He put on a burst of speed to catch up with her and dove down so he was closer to her level. As he neared, she bounded up a dormer and leaped off the top, landing on all fours again. A gleeful giggle reached his ears and caused a grin to spread across his face. Oh yeah, no way she was an Akuma. Akumas couldn't be that happy.

The words bubbled past his lips before he could stop them. "Bonsoir, minou!"

The kitty reacted immediately. With a cry that was somewhere between a yelp and a hiss, she jumped a good foot in the air, her momentum carrying her forward. She landed in a crouch on a small chimney and spun around to face him, tail ramrod straight behind her. Her blue eyes were wide and gleaming and she flashed her teeth threateningly.

He groaned internally and about smacked himself. _Well done, Adrien._

Before he could even come up with something to say next, the cat girl relaxed. She glowered at him as he alighted on the rooftop in front of her, folding his wings against his back. "You scared me to death!" she scolded.

"Good thing cats have nine lives," he quipped.

Her glower intensified for a moment then she rolled her eyes. Ladybug laughed mirthfully at her reaction then took a moment to look her up and down. Her eyes were entirely blue, the sclera a shade lighter than the pupils and altogether very catlike. Around them she wore a black mask very much like his own that covered most of her upper face. He couldn't make out the details of her outfit in the dark, only that it was as form-fitting as his own and entirely black. Furthering the cat theme she had going on was the pink collar resting at the base of her neck and he could just barely make out the shape of a small bow in the front. A pair of feline ears sat atop her head and her hair, which she wore in a low ponytail, concealed her human ones (assuming they were there at all). Her tail, which he had seen trailing out behind her as she ran, was now flicking from side to side behind her. She still hadn't left her crouched position so he couldn't be sure, but he had a feeling she was smaller than him. She didn't look particularly strong, but neither did he and he could flip a car.

It was right around then that he realized she was sizing him up, too, and he couldn't tell if she was impressed by what she saw or not.

He cleared his throat awkwardly. "So, uh…you're…I mean, are you like me?"

The cat girl cocked her head to one side. "That depends," she said slowly. "Are you asking if I have a miraculous?"

He nodded and held up his hand to show her his ring. The cat girl eyed it for a moment then smiled widely and pushed her hair away from one of her human ears, revealing a black earing with five faintly glowing blue dots in the shape of a paw print.

Ladybug beamed. Yes, yes, yes, yes! He'd been right! She was the other Tikki had spoken of. He felt like dancing for joy in that moment and he settled, instead, for holding out his hand to her. "I'm Ladybug."

The catgirl smiled and slid off the chimney. Upright, she was a few inches shorter than him. She crossed the distance between them in a few graceful strides and accepted his hand. "Chat Noire."

They shook hands and he was sure he was grinning like a loon but he didn't care. Learning to fly, standing at the top of the Eiffel Tower, meeting a cute girl who was also supposed to be his superhero counterpart—this was easily the best night of his life. He wondered if she'd be willing to meet outside their masks as well but knew it was probably too soon to ask something like that. Theirs was a risky business and she really didn't have much reason to trust him yet. He didn't want to scare her off immediately after meeting her.

Chat Noire let go of his hand and pulled her arm to her chest, ears drooping slightly. "I'm sorry," she said and he sobered immediately. "About yesterday, I mean."

Ladybug was confused. "What do you mean?"

"Making you fight alone." Her tail flicked once behind her. "I was there. I was about to transform when you showed up, actually."

His jaw dropped. She'd been there? Had he seen her? What if he'd walked past her without realizing? Tikki hadn't mentioned any other kwami, though, so maybe he hadn't been close to her at all. _There_ was a very relative term, after all. She could've been watching from a nearby building or been part of the few civilians who'd remained outside on the sidelines to watch the action unfold and hadn't been controlled.

"You seemed to know what you were doing, at least more than I did," she went on. "I decided I'd help if you really needed it but I figured I'd probably just get in the way. This is only my second time transforming," she added with a small smile.

He shook his head and waved off her concerns. "Don't worry about it. It's cool. I mean, a little help would've been nice, but I managed. There's always next time. …You will show up next time, right?"

Chat Noire nodded. "Yeah. I was planning on learning the ropes and then introducing myself to you the next time an akuma attacked."

"Aaah, and what if I'd thought you were an akuma and attacked you?" Ladybug asked, folding his arms. He was only partially kidding. After all, his first thought before had been akuma. He might have whacked her with his staff before realizing she was actually on his side.

"Well, it's not like I had any other way to find you." Chat Noire said with a helpless shrug of her shoulders. Then she smirked. "And besides, that would imply you could even get close enough to hurt me. Cats are notoriously hard to catch."

He hummed, sensing the genuineness in her challenge. She wanted to play. "Purr-haps we can test that one day."

The smirk slid off her face and she stared blankly at him for a long moment. "Did you just do what I think you did?"

"Paw-sibly," he drawled.

The cat girl shook her head and turned her back to him. "Nope. Never mind. I quit."

Ladybug roared with laughter, wings fluttering from the force, and much to his delight, the cat girl was smiling over her shoulder. She shook her head at him. "Oh, stop it."

"Paw-don me, minou," he said between laughs. "I just couldn't resist."

" _Mon dieu_."


	2. L'appel du Vide - Black Cat of Bad Luck

If someone had told Marinette a month ago that she was destined to be chosen by the kwami of bad luck and become a superhero, she would've laughed in their faces and then ran; ran far and fast. Because, really, who in their right mind would pick _her_ , plain-old clumsy Marinette, to be a hero?

Plagg, that's who.

That in itself wasn't very motivational. Plagg was…quite the character. He was spunky, overly dramatic, a bit selfish, sneaky, and apparently had a suave streak when it suited him, but if Marinette had to choose one word to describe the kwami of bad luck it would be 'cheese.' Seriously. The little cat was absolutely obsessed with the stuff and his favorite was _camembert_ , of all things. And he didn't like the cheap stuff, either; oh, no, he liked the prime quality, cream of the crop camembert that was too expensive for Marinette to even consider buying with any regularity. Could've been worse though. If he had requested something like, oh, say, pule instead, she probably would have promptly dropped the kwami off her balcony. If he was going to demand those kinds of luxuries then he could just run along and find himself a wealthy host, thank you very much.

Luckily for her, however, Plagg was also kind, and when Marinette had explained that camembert was a bit too expensive for her, he had patted her on the nose and told her she needn't worry too much. He would be happy with almost any kind of cheese… As long as he got it regularly. Fortunately, being the daughter of bakers, she was in a good position to deliver. She was already working on her pitch to convince her parents to start making more cheese bread.

One thing was for sure: life had definitely gotten more interesting since Plagg turned up with the magical stone that could transform her into Chat Noire. He had given her a basic rundown on how things were going to work, but mostly she was expected to figure things out on her own. Though he _had_ been particularly careful to warn her that the transformation had a way of leaving an imprint on the host even when not in costume. One of the side-effects of having your mind being co-inhabited from time to time and all that. She didn't quite understand what he meant until she nearly pounced on a pigeon that had landed on her balcony and Plagg had idly commented that her form needed some work because she was never going to catch one like that.

Good thing Alya was on vacation with her family because Marinette had no idea how she was going to hide her new feline tendencies from her best friend. She was already struggling to hide them from her parents who still didn't understand where all the milk from the fridge had disappeared to (her and Plagg's stomachs) or why a decoration Sabine had hanging from the ceiling had suddenly 'fallen' after never having so much as wobbled in five years. It certainty wasn't because Marinette, in a moment of what could only be described as _utter insanity_ , had smacked it back and forth a few times.

So not only did she have to start defeating these things called akumas soon, she also had to manage her inner kitty and 'find the lucky bug,' whatever that meant. She'd tried asking Plagg to clarify but he'd responded tiredly that he couldn't remember what the word was in her language and promptly fell asleep thereafter and by morning she had forgotten.

She found out a few days later when she'd witnessed a boy in a black suit with a distinctive ladybug-esque pattern on the back of his torso and arms take down the Piper. Lucky bug. Of course. Marinette felt bad for not helping him. It was her duty, too, after all, but she'd been so caught up trying to not get found out by her parents that she sort of…well… _forgot_ to actually go out and figure out how to be Chat Noire. Plagg certainly hadn't been prompting her, either.

That evening, she had sat with her parents in the living room and watched the news coverage of the attack. She studied the pictures and watched them replay the fight, noting (along with the reporter) the kindness he displayed for his former foe. The adults commented on the bizarreness of the whole thing and then Sabine said how grateful she was that Marinette hadn't been anywhere near there today. Marinette's face burnt hot with shame. _Oh, maman, if you only knew._

Afterwards, both she and Plagg agreed: it was time for her to get her tail in gear. She needed to be ready the next time an akuma attacked. She really wished she could get ahold of the bug boy but Plagg told her that wouldn't be possible until they met. That night was a no-go but the following night, after her parents had gone to bed, she had transformed and set out to roam Paris. The rooftops were safest for her, away from things like pedestrians with cellphones and traffic, and she quickly found herself right at home on the uneven terrain.

Chat Noire could do things Marinette couldn't. She'd noticed her agility had increased in her normal life but she was still unprepared for the full extent of the changes. She was running faster than she ever had in her life, her feet barely skimming the ground. She could jump like never before; twist, twirl, and flip over obstacles with the grace and precision of a cat. Without even meaning to, she'd discovered that loping on all-fours was not only possible, but comfortable and convenient—it gave her a speed boost, too. Even cooler, though, were her senses. Sounds were clearer, scents were sharper, and not only could she see perfectly in the dark, but she could still see in full color, something she knew cats couldn't do.

Then she'd gotten scared to death by a certain winged boy and realized that as Chat, she also reacted like a startled cat.

Apart from his penchant for puns, he seemed alright. She hadn't missed the enthusiasm in his expression and the excited gleam in his eyes as they spoke. He was just as pleased to meet her as she was him. When she'd gotten home, Plagg had whirled around her room with a pleased little smile on his face and was still doing it when she returned with a glass of milk and a plate of cheese for him.

"What's got you so excited? Did you find my stash of catnip?" she teased. She actually had no stash, as such, but she figured the mention of the plant might be enough to get his attention at least. Apparently not.

"Tikki!" he crowed in delight, twirling in circles as he floated over to her.

"Tikki?" Marinette cocked her head to the side as he plucked a piece of cheese from the plate. "What's tikki?"

"Who. Tikki is a who," Plagg explained before sinking his teeth into the cheese.

Tikki wasn't any sort of name Marinette knew so she was quite certain he wasn't referring to the boy who was Ladybug. Which could only mean… "His kwami? You know them?"

Plagg nodded. "Oh yeah. She and I go waaay back," he said around a mouthful of cheese.

"What's she like?" Marinette asked curiously. Were all kwami the same as Plagg or were they as different as people could be?

Plagg thought about it for a moment and took another bite of cheese, chewing slowly. Then he shrugged his tiny shoulders. "She's Tikki."

"Oh, come on. You've got to give me more than that." Marinette sat down in the chair at her desk, setting the plate near her keyboard, and took a sip of milk.

Plagg shrugged again. "I don't know what you want me to say, kid. Tikki's just Tikki."

"What's her personality like?"

He pondered that while taking another two bites of cheese. "I'm bad luck," he said slowly and took another bite. "She's good luck. She's everything I'm not. She's gentle, she's…coddling. 'Nurturing' is the word she'd use. She loves her Ladybugs, for better or worse."

"And do you?" Marinette asked, suddenly feeling very small.

Plagg gave her a long look, his feline face completely unreadable, and then he sighed. "I don't look for the same things that she does in people when I choose them. Some of them aren't exactly _loveable_." He took another bite of cheese and Marinette's heart sank. "But you, Marinette—you're going to be a great Chat. I can tell already."

She tried not to be offended by that because it wasn't actually an insult, but all the same… "What," Marinette said slowly, "do you look for in the people you pick?"

He grinned slyly. "Access to cheese." When Marinette sputtered, the tiny kwami threw back his head and laughed. He tossed the rest of cheese in his mouth and swallowed without chewing. Then he flew up to Marinette's face and gave her a genuine smile. "I look for the people with cats in their souls. My cats are clever, witty, wily, brave. Selfish and selfless—there's a fine balance between the two. I look for resourcefulness. Your unlucky power," he nibbled on a corner of the cheese, "Well, I'm not quite sure what it's going to manifest as for you just yet, but you'll find it requires you to think quickly and creatively." He patted the top of her head as if she were a feline. "We kwami don't choose our humans lightly. You're worthy of your claws."

Marinette was sure her face was beet red by the time he finished and she took a drink of milk to avoid having to saying anything for the moment. Plagg drifted away from her and folded his arms, the ghost of a smile hidden by the last of the camambert. "But I wasn't kidding about the access to cheese thing."

Air rushed out of her nose in a quiet laugh. She picked the plate up from her desk and held it out to him. _You're worthy of your claws._ While she wasn't sure what being chosen by the kwami of bad luck said about her or her character, she knew praise when she heard it.

"By the way, Plagg?"

"Hmm?"

"I was wondering…my costume. Is it the same thing for each Chat?"

The kwami shook his head. "I change it to suit the times, the place, and the cat. Why?"

"Because I'd like to make a few changes."

"You _what_?"

Plagg was not used to having his chosen complain about their uniform. Apart from minor changes in response to extenuating circumstances in the past, what the cat got is what the cat got. Marinette, however, was a force to be reckoned with, and the kwami was entirely unprepared or equipped to handle such situations. Let it not be said that Plagg didn't put up a fight, because he did; oh, he did, and in true feline fashion. But Marinette was a girl on a mission. Armed with her sketchpad, finest pencils, and an entire disc of camembert, the young designer was about to knock Plagg's socks off. If he had any socks, that was. She should design him some for moments like this.

The next day, she used her phone to get pictures of herself as Chat Noire from almost every angle, then copied down what she saw diligently onto the pages. From there it was just a matter of finding something she liked. She drew dozens of sketches, each of them different from the last. Some were disregarded immediately, some took a little longer before she dismissed them, others she marked for further consideration. Plagg hovered overhead, munching on the morsel he'd received for cooperating, and watched Marinette go to town.

After about an hour of this, the kwami began to give input. _No, no, that's terrible. I'm not making that. Really, kid—you do remember you are la chat noire, right? Oooh, that's good… Pffffffffffff, do you really expect to do fancy maneuvers with_ _ **that**_ _?_

After a particularly scathing remark about a belt design she had (which, in her mind, had been practical, and a good way to secure the yo-yo she would be fighting with) Marinette turned her glare onto the kwami, eyes full of blue fire and a growl deep in her throat. Plagg's whiskers twitched, noting the threat in her body language, and heaved a sigh, his shoulders slumping forward.

Plagg floated down and grabbed hold of her pencil. She let him take it and watched as he flipped it over, carefully erased the belt, and began to draw something in its place. "It's too much baggage," he groused. "Your tail is necessary for balance and it can be quite an effective tool. But it's behind you and you have control over it but that ridiculous addition would restrict your movement. Could even tangle your legs. I cannot— _will_ not let you fight in something that could get you hurt. Or worse. Honestly, what do you take me for—"

Marinette smiled to herself as the kwami continued to rant and draw. It was good to have him on board and to know that he really did care. And, interestingly enough, he seemed to know what he was doing. Maybe one of his previous cats had been an artist?

Plagg set the pencil down and drifted back, arms folded. "There," he announced. "Much better."

The belt, if drawn to scale, would be about an inch and a half wide. It was simple, thick enough for her tail to stem from, and would be sturdy enough to hold the yo-yo. The original costume had a small holster hanging off the side for it to lock into but Marinette didn't like the idea of having to worry about pulling it out of something mid-battle. It would be able to hook securely on the belt with a simple clasp.

Marinette frowned, tongue poking out in concentration as she examined the belt, then erased the tiny bell he'd drawn where a buckle should be. "No bells. I can't be jingling everywhere in battle."

"It wouldn't have to jingle."

"No. Bells."

Plagg sniffed. "You have no sense of style."

Marinette tried to veto the leather next but Plagg immediately dismissed her concerns as it wasn't _really_ leather at all. Her suit was made out of the same substance as Ladybug's; she'd be able to tell if she looked up close, but it was styled to look like leather, a choice the kwami was sticking with. The tail, though, he was willing to work with, when she told him between giggles that she liked the idea of having a soft or fluffy tail. She made a few other minor tweaks—the bulky wrists of her gloves would have to go and if he insisted on making her wear boots then they would be skintight. She was not about to go traipsing around in those thick things when she could get just as good protection without them being prominent. When she mentioned it would make the whole design seem sleeker, like a cat, she managed to win Plagg's support.

In the end, the whole outfit was one big compromise. There were just certain things Plagg refused to do on principle and she certainly didn't get an explanation like she had for the belt. Mostly he just gorged himself on cheese, earning a new piece every time he gave in to something she really wanted.

She sketched out the finished design from all four sides then gave it a flat color with minimal shading to emphasize shapes and sizes. When it was finished, she presented it to Plagg who took a few minutes to memorize it. There was still a quarter of the camembert left and she wouldn't give it to him if he didn't get this right. She'd promised. When the kwami was satisfied he could pull it off, he gave Marinette the go-ahead to transform. Then she stood in front of the mirror to examine herself.

Her hairstyle and length were the only thing that remained entirely unchanged. She liked how it hid her human ears, concealing her miraculous and enhancing the cat aesthetic. Her tail was a bit thicker than it had been before and resembled velvet. Her gloves and boots were skintight, the former tipped with small, razor-sharp claws that could shred paper in a single swipe (she may or may not have gleefully checked) and were strong enough to handle her weight. Her cat ears were a bit smaller and now had pink on the insides, the same shade as the paw prints on her earrings and the collar around her neck. Her yo-yo, which had previously been solid black, now had a pink paw print identical to the one on her earrings stamped onto it. The bow on her collar was smaller, too, part of the collar rather than attached to it, and had three jewels set vertically down the middle.

Her original suit hugged her frame, to the point where she'd been self-conscious. She was already anticipating backlash for running around in a _literal_ catsuit and she didn't want to give the creeps of the world anything to use against her. The new suit still hugged her frame but now it included a small, stretchy skirt beneath her belt, that fell to her mid-thighs and made her feel a little better about the whole thing. To her surprise, it hadn't been difficult at all to win Plagg over—in fact, it had been the thing that had taken the least amount of effort, and when she'd expressed her surprise, the kwami simply informed her that he was used to varying levels of modesty in his cats, and that at least she wasn't wanting a petticoat.

The newly re-designed Chat Noire pranced around her room, jumped from her floor to the loft bed then back down, climbed the ladder, and did a few somersaults, just to get an idea of how the suit felt on her and what it'd be like out there. All together, she was pleased—right up until she heard her mother approaching and she barely had a chance to gasp before Plagg rocketed out of her ring and made a beeline for her loft. The green light had just finished passing over her body when Sabine opened the trap door. Marinette was able to deflect her concerns with a few words and a cute smile and her mother departed with a fond shake of her head.

Marinette and Plagg waited in silence for a solid ten seconds after before her kwami let out a tiny, "Whew," and flew out into the open. "At least you have your own room. I've had cats whose families lived in the same room!"

She winced. That couldn't have been easy on either of them. She wondered how long they'd kept it a secret before someone found out. She was having trouble enough as it was, but to have no privacy like that? She couldn't imagine living normally like that, never mind with a kwami and alter ego.

She and Ladybug had agreed to meet that night on the roof of the Lourve at the highest point across from the entrance to the pyramid. It was very public, yeah, but neither of them was sure they could find the rooftop they'd met on again and anything that wasn't well known might not have been easy for the other to find. The Lourve was close enough for them both to consider it convenient. They could come up with a better place to rendezvous later once they got things figured out.

Thinking about Ladybug sent a strange thrill through her. Not because he was handsome—though he might have been, but he was more 'cute' to her with those round cheeks of his and that long messy hair—but because he was…he was…himself, if that made sense. She'd spent days since Plagg's arrival fretting over the whole thing and struggling to get a hand on those pesky feline tendencies (she could control them, she _knew_ she could, she was just reeling from the unfamiliarity). Last night aside, she hadn't had much chance to really appreciate or even enjoy this new aspect of her life. But now there was someone else who could _understand_.

She didn't know much about ladybugs so she wondered what could've possibly been imprinted on him. Well, other than the wings.

Chat Noire was the first one to arrive at their meeting place just ten minutes shy of midnight according to the face of a clock she could see from her perch. Rather than wait out in plain sight, she slid down the slope of the dome on the opposite side of the pyramid, settling down in the shadows to wait. She kept her eyes trained upwards, fully expecting him to come in from the air and alight on the highest point until he spotted her. To her surprise, just as it was turning midnight, she heard footsteps approaching, audible only due to her heightened hearing.

She turned her head towards the noise and saw Ladybug, in all his red and black glory, walking towards her. She raised her hand in greeting and he jumped a little in surprise, apparently not having noticed her until she moved. Nonetheless, a grin spread across his face. "Bonsoir, minou!"

"Bonsoir, Bug," she greeted in reply. She'd considered calling him 'cocinelle' but she wasn't sure if he would like that or not. 'Bug' was English but it was safely gender neutral and he already seemed to have decided that he wanted to use the English name for the beetle.

"You're early," he noted, slowly slinking toward her. She rolled her eyes.

Chat Noire got to her feet and moved out into the light so he would be able to see her. "I wasn't sure how long it'd take me to get here this way. Not as long as I'd thought, obviously."

But Ladybug didn't seem to be paying attention to her words. He'd stopped just a few feet shy of her and was looking her up and down. "You look…different."

Chat grinned. "Oh, yeah! You like it?" She turned in a slow circle, showing off her new outfit. "I was a bit 'eh' about the last one and I convinced my kwami to change things up. We worked all day on this."

"It looks great!" He agreed enthusiastically then looked down at himself. "I didn't know we could do that…."

"Well, if yours is anything like mine, you better have plenty of bribes. It took an entire thing of camembert, Bug," she said seriously. "The good stuff."

Ladybug laughed. "Wow. She doesn't ask for much."

"She—oh, no. He. Plagg's a 'he'. Oh, I almost forgot, he wanted me to pass on a hello to your kwami. Apparently they know each other."

"Really?" His eyes widened. "Hey, I have an idea. Why don't we let them say hello face to face?"

"But we'd have to de-transform…"

"Yeah."

"I—I…" Chat stammered, taking a step back. Ladybug noticed her uneasiness immediately.

"Are you not okay with that?"

"No," she said. "I'm not. I'm sorry, but, I don't feel comfortable with showing my—my _civilian_ self, I guess. This is too new and it could be dangerous if we know who each other is behind the masks. I mean, what if something goes wrong? I'm not saying I think you'd betray me, but this Hawkmoth guy, he can control people's minds, can't he? What if—"

"Okay, okay, I get it," he shushed her, disappointed but not angry. "You're right. Maybe they can meet some other time, then."

"Maybe," she agreed quietly. She could see the discontent linger on the boy's face for a few moments longer (but, really, this was for the best), but it was gone in a flash as he effortlessly perked up.

"So, what are we gonna do tonight?" Ladybug asked, bouncing on the balls of his feet.

"I'm not sure," Chat admitted with a laugh, rubbing the back of his head. "I was hoping you had an idea."

"Aaah…. We didn't really plan this out, did we?"

"Oops?"

The teenagers giggled at their own folly and Chat Noire flicked her tail in amusement. "What if…we just went for a run?"

"A run." He cocked his head to the side. "You mean topside, right?"

She grinned impishly. "Of course. Or you could always fly, it's up to you."

"Well, I can't just…fly." Ladybug said. He turned, presenting her his back, and she realized the red-tinted wings he'd bore before were absent. "I have to actually bring them out but when I do, it drains a lot of power, so I can't keep them out long before I have to change back."

"Oh!" she gasped, suddenly excited. "So, that's your power? That's so neat!"

He nodded enthusiastically and spun around. "What's yours?" he asked eagerly. "You're supposed to be bad luck, right?"

"The black cat of bad luck, that's me. Except, there's just one tiny little problem." Chat Noire rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. "I don't exactly—I haven't tried it out yet."

Ladybug's eyes widened and he pursed his lips. "We gotta find out."

Which was why, fifteen minutes later, the two heroes found themselves in a condemned building in a less friendly part of Paris. If they were going to start messing around with a manifestation of bad luck they needed to not be around people or occupied buildings. Moonlight spilled through a broken window in the ceiling and Chat Noire stood in the middle of it while Ladybug waited a safe five feet away.

Plagg decided to be useful (for once) and whispered instructions in her mind on how to call forth her power for the first time. Energy rushed through her, starting at her earrings and travelling down her shoulders and arms before manifesting in her palms as energy. It rippled and crackled and as she brought her hands together, the power flared out, forming a ball of black, purple-accented energy about the size of a cricket ball. She rotated her hands around the sphere, watching it ebb and swell. When she pulled her hands apart, the sphere remained above her dominant one.

A laugh as dark as the power she held bubbled past her lips and she grinned up at Ladybug. He, too, seemed enraptured by the power she wielded. "This. Is. So. Cool."

"Yeah, but what does it _do_?" Ladybug shifted his weight from foot to foot in anticipation.

 _Oooooh,_ Plagg whispered in her mind. _Interesting. You inflict bad luck._

Chat Noire blinked. What was that supposed to mean? She glanced down at her palm, at the bad luck. "It's bad luck." She held out her hand. "This is actually bad luck, right here."

His eyes widened and he took an automatic step back. "Lucky bug here. Keep that away from me."

Chat Noire looked around the room. _Bad luck in the palm of my hand._ She could pass this on to anything, maybe anyone, and chaos would ensue. She could press it to the floor or the walls or the beams… Part of her found the prospective damage and mayhem alluring. That would be Plagg's influence, she decided, because Marinette certainly didn't consider such things to be particularly entertaining. Nevertheless, the urge was there. Her eyes flicked around the room, noting with interest that some thing seemed to gleam purple like the energy in her hand. All she had to do was…was _touch_ something…

"Minou?"

Chat Noire blinked, shaking her head quickly, and a haze she hadn't even been aware of around her vision cleared. "Oh, wow," she whispered. Ladybug watched her with concern. "I'm…I'm okay…." She spotted an empty wine bottle a few feet behind Ladybug and pointed at it with her empty hand. "Bug, that bottle behind you. Bring it here."

He turned around, searching in the dark, then went to fetch it for her. He tossed it through the air and she caught it with her free hand. "What are you going to do?"

"If I'm right," Chat Noire gave the bad luck one final, long look. "Make this the unluckiest bottle in the world."

Before she could talk herself out of it (such a waste, a _bottle,_ she could do so much more than a bottle), she pressed her hands together. The dark power seeped into the innocuous glass, turning it solid black with a faint purple glow around it.

Chat Noire sucked in a sharp breath. Her arms suddenly felt ten times lighter, an intense pressure within in her chest suddenly dissipating.

"Are you okay?" Ladybug took one step towards her, then another, concern written all over his face.

"That was…"

"You shouldn't hold onto it like that. You looked like…" He trailed off, at a loss on how to describe what he'd seen.

"I know, I felt it." Chat Noire held up the bottle and put her free hand on her hip. "It's gone now—ah, ah, ah! Don't touch it! This thing is so unlucky right now, it'd probably break and hurt you."

"Wait. Hold on. Let me see if I got this right. You made a ball of literal bad luck appear in your hand and then you transferred it all to that bottle, making it unlucky?"

"Pretty much."

"That's… _awesome_." Ladybug grinned darkly. "We are going to kick some serious butt, you and me."

Chat Noire felt her tail lash from side to side at the prospect. "We should meet again tomorrow night, if that's alright with you. We need to learn how to fight. I mean, I know you can fight—those were some pretty good moves with your staff the other day—but I'm still not entirely sure how what I can do is going to fit in with that."

He cocked his head to the side. "What's wrong with tonight?"

For an answer, Chat's earrings let out a warning beep. The first of five before she would de-transform. Ladybug scowled. "Oh. Right."

"We should go now," Chat Noire suggested. "I'd like to not be here when I turn back to normal."

Ladybug tapped his chin thoughtfully. "Do you live very far from here?"

"Um…kind of. Why?"

"What about the Lourve? Do you live far from there? I mean, if I were to get you back to the museum, could you make it home safely from there as yourself?"

Chat Noire nodded. It would take a bit of time on foot. She'd have better luck buying cheese nearby and letting Plagg recharge then going home that way.

"Okay then." Ladybug rolled his shoulders like he was steeling himself for something.

"What are you doing?"

The blonde boy winked at her. "Wings out!" Before she could process what he'd said, he threw his arms out wide and bright light flared behind him, bathing the room in red. Chat let out a tiny 'eep!' of surprise and jumped back, raising her free hand to shield her eyes. The light faded and she lowered her hand then gasped. Wings. His _wings_. They glowed faintly for a moment longer before the lingering light settled into a faint red hue around them.

Then what he'd said finally registered and the awe on her face melted into an unimpressed grimace. "'Wings out'? Seriously?"

"Yeah. I was thinking of 'spots on' as a transformation catchphrase. What do you think?"

"I think you're a dork."

"I'll take it!" Ladybug held out his arms. "And now, mon minou—Air Ladybug flight 1198, charter service from this room to the Lourve, now leaving from Terminal 6."

"Mon dieu," she muttered. "You're not serious."

"Hey, you got a better way to cover five kilometers in five minutes?"

She narrowed her eyes skeptically. "You can fly that fast?"

"Well, look at it this way: a ladybug can fly as fast as a race horse. Now how fast do you think someone my size can go if I floored it?"

Her jaw dropped but then her miraculous gave another warning beep and she realized she didn't have time to be picky about transportation methods. She walked towards him but before she could get close enough for him to pick her up, she remembered what was in her hand.

Right. Bad luck bottle. _Uh…Plagg? What do I do with this?_

Of course her kwami was silent. Chat groaned quietly and decided to just toss it across the room. After all, what harm could a little bottle do…right?

…

Twenty seconds later, the two Miraculous wielders were screaming at the top of their lungs as Ladybug flew them up and out of the building that was suddenly experiencing the worst bad luck it had ever known. Ladybug hovered thirty feet above the roof, both of them gawking down at the building, the second floor of which was quickly being acquainted with the first. Then Chat Noire's earrings beeped for a third time and snapped them both out of it.

"OH MY GOD, CHAT, YOU BROKE A BUILDING!"

"JUST FLY, YOU STUPID BUG!"

Unbeknownst to them, a lone pedestrian had seen the whole thing from across the street, looked at the bottle in his hand, and began to dump the rest of his drink onto the sidewalk.


	3. LdV - A Fortunate Stroke of Bad Luck

**Dedicated to all my scrubs over at Project ML.**

 **Merry Christmas!**

* * *

It wasn't like the movies or comics. They weren't vigilantes with vendettas or superheroes from far off planets with natural abilities that were extraordinary on Earth. They weren't trained by more experienced mentors or backed up by a team who could swoop in and save the day. They were just two kids; two kids who had to go and take down a corrupted person for the sake of the world. Anything could happen.

 _We are so screwed,_ Ladybug repeated over and over to himself as he raced across the rooftops.

There was an akuma rampaging up and down the Champs-Élysées, one of the most crowded Parisian streets and a major tourist hotspot. Of course that was where the Dynamic Duo of Luck (their title was a work in progress and mostly one-sided) would be making their true grand debut to the world. It couldn't be some neighborhood where only locals hung out, oh _noooo_. It had to be in the freaking heart of Paris during the height of tourist season in the middle of the day.

Let it be on record that he completely blamed Chat Noire's luck for this.

He wasn't sure he was ready for this. What exactly 'this' was had yet to be determined, but he couldn't shake the uneasy feeling in his gut that it was just too soon.

It wasn't like he and Chat had been inactive in the week and a half since meeting. Almost every night saw the two green Miraculous wielders out and about. They ran around, learning how to navigate the complex rooftops, a feat they hoped would soon imprint itself into their muscle memory. They practiced with their respective weapons; he learned that a lot of his fencing skills translated well with his staff, and her yo-yo (she had a _yo-yo_ , dear god, if that wasn't the cutest thing ever) not only had an unbreakable and seemingly endless string, but it was capable of supporting her weight and could pack quite a punch.

A few petty crimes here and there had served as practice runs for the pair of them: in and out, just a few hits, a friendly smile thrown towards the victim, and then disappearing back into the shadows from which they came. All in all, it had created a very impressive image, and rumors were beginning to spread about the strange costumed duo haunting the dark alleys of Paris. Someone had even managed to snap a picture of them on the roof of the Lourve, although from the quality of the picture, that had been pure coincidence.

They'd also established a good meeting place that they both considered close enough to home to conveniently reach but far enough that they didn't feel it would give away their respective neighborhoods—a singularly unimpressive rooftop, distinguishable only by the chimney painted an interesting shade of pink. Ladybug and Chat Noire agreed, if ever they needed to meet, this was where they would come. In the event of an akuma attack, however, they were to go straight there and try to deal with things until the other arrived. Other details would be ironed out over time but they thought the same in that their first akuma fight should begin and end the same way: together. They were going to be a _team,_ and they needed to present themselves as such from the get-go.

(However, Adrien did think the Piper might have made that a little difficult; Ladybug _had_ already been seen acting once without Chat Noire. Not much they can do about it now, though.)

Fortunately, this changed just a few days later when Chat Noire appeared, in broad daylight, at the scene of a bad car accident. Footage from someone's phone showed her ripping doors clean off and shredding seatbelts with her claws. Those who weren't harmed she helped from their vehicles and she had comforted the one victim who couldn't be safely removed from the car before paramedics arrived. The last shot had been of her using her yo-yo to retreat to the safety of the rooftops.

Adrien hadn't known anything had gone down until he saw it on the news that evening. Chat Noire hadn't tried to contact him at all or Tikki would've said something. He didn't once ask her why she hadn't called him just to let him know that she'd been seen publically. Instead, he listened with a smile on his face as she gushed about how amazing it had been to be able to save those people. Being bad luck, she hadn't anticipated doing much saving.

Much like the battle with the Piper, it had been open and public, with only one of them in the spotlight. It had been a good way of establishing them as separate entities capable of acting independently. There was speculation about a link between the two of them, fueled further by the rumors of their nightly escapades, but nothing concrete had been established.

That was about to change.

It had to be the freaking Champs-Élysées. Forget Paris, the whole world was about to learn that the City of Light had superheroes. Actual _superheroes_ who were going to be fighting actual _supervillains_ (and, oh, my god, _this was their life_ ). If they did well, they could earn the respect and trust of the people. If they screwed this up, well—they were screwed. No pressure.

The urge to call on his wings was strong. Not only would he be able to get to the akuma quicker using them, they would undoubtedly make the imminent fight easier. Of course, it would also greatly decrease the amount of time he had to take down the akuma. Chat would absolutely kill him if he ran off and left her to fight the akuma alone.

Ladybug heard something very much like a cellphone ringing and it took him a second to recognize the sound. He reached behind him for his staff and slid it apart to activate the communicator, pressing it to his ear. "Salut, minou!"

" _Save it, Bug._ " Chat Noire sounded out of breath, like she'd been running. " _Where are you?"_

Ladybug grunted as leaped across an alleyway. "About two minutes out, coming in from the south. You?"

" _Maybe a minute,"_ she panted, _"and from the east."_

"Wait somewhere I can see you. Do you know what it is?"

" _Al—I mean, a friend of mine texted me about it. She said it's something to do with glass?"_

"Glass?" Ladybug frowned. This was going to be interesting. What could an akuma be doing with glass?

Turning people into glass figurines, apparently. Not encasing them in glass—that would be too easy. No, the akuma was actually turning them into transparent glass statues with extremely fine details depicting their faces, hair, clothes; anything they were wearing when they had been turned was suddenly glass. There were dozens of them scattered up and down the street. Far too many were frozen in positions that suggested they'd been fleeing or cowering, their faces twisted with fear.

Ladybug's breath caught in his throat. This wasn't like with the Piper's victims. They'd been living, breathing; they just weren't in their right minds. But these people…there was no way they were still alive in there. How could they be? Their bodies were nothing but solid glass. He prayed the Cleansing Light could restore them. What if one of them was _shattered_? Could the Light fix that?

Civilians were still fleeing up the main road. Some had remained in their cars but were just beginning to realize how imperative it was that they evacuate. He could see people peeking out of the storefronts. He spotted a teenager cowering in a tree. A group of people—stupid, foolish, _idiots_ —were out in the open filming it with their phones. He assumed from the cargo shorts and sneakers that they were American tourists but honestly, did they think this was some sort of show? Those people were _dead_ and there was a _supervillain_ on the loose. This wasn't some Marvel movie.

The akuma. Where was it? Following the trail of statues would've been a good idea if there had been one. They littered the area, as if the akuma had been running around and firing at random. But apart from the Americans, he didn't see anyone actually outside around ground zero. Wait…the Americans. They must know what it looked like, they were probably filming the akuma itself right now—

So caught up in his thoughts, he nearly didn't see Chat Noire standing on a building across the street. She waved frantically to him with one hand then pointed at her yo-yo. He looked down at his staff, suddenly realizing they hadn't hung up yet. He lifted it to his ear and she did the same with her yo-yo.

"Minou?"

" _This is awful,"_ she whimpered. Her ears (which he'd come to find out were pink on the inside, like her collar, and so freaking cute) were drooping, and he couldn't quite see her expression clearly but he knew her jaw was trembling. That wouldn't do at all.

"Not to worry, mon minou." He flashed her a broad grin that he knew she'd see. "I'm _paw_ sitive my Light can fix even that."

Chat Noire nodded and he could see the the change come over her even from this distance. Her back straightened, shoulders squaring, and her tail lashed behind her. _"The Glass looks almost exactly like the statues, but it's more opaque and it resembles broken glass, which allows it to move. It can fire glass shards out of its hands."_

Ladybug stepped towards the edge of the roof and looked down. The avenue around the statues was littered in glass shards. "I have a _feline_ we shouldn't get hit by the glass."

" _Ladybug, I swear to—you know what? Never mind. You're right. Getting hit by the glass is what did it."_

"Any idea where the butterfly is?"

" _Not a clue."_

There was a chorus of screams from below. Ladybug's head whipped around.

A glass figure easily six feet tall loomed over the group of Americans. The akuma was vaguely humanoid, but had stark differences, with its long, wiry limbs and sharp claws. The creature lacked hair and seemed to be genderless; he couldn't see its face, but it was just as Chat had described, made of cloudy shattered glass that reflected and refracted light with every movement. One of the tourists appeared to have tried to approach it because there was now a new glass statue down there, its hands outstretched and holding a smartphone. Others seemed to realize exactly how much danger they were in at the display, beginning to flee.

"Let's get cracking, minou!" Ladybug shouted, closing the communicator, then twisted his wrist to extend his staff. Raising it over his head, he began rotating it as fast as he could and jumped. When he neared the ground, he flipped it vertical beneath him, and slid down it like a pole.

He retracted the pole to its normal size then sprinted towards the akuma. "Hey, Sparkles!"

The Glass turned around, drawn by the sound of the young hero's voice. A faint glowing design appeared around its face for a few seconds and when it vanished, the creature let out a chilling scream. But Ladybug was undeterred and he swung his baton back to strike.

From overhead he heard the sound of Chat Noire's yo-yo (a sound which was quickly becoming familiar to him) and somehow knew in that moment what she was planning. Maybe it was from his lucky powers, or maybe because he was getting used to her style, but either way, he knew in that second what he needed to do. He hit the deck.

Seconds later, Chat's body whizzed right through the space he had just occupied with a loud screech ripping its way out of her throat. The Glass didn't even have a chance to react before she slammed right into it. The resulting impact made it sound like she'd shattered it and he saw a huge dent in the akuma's chest from where her feet made contact as it went flying. She swung away from the impact point and her yo-yo released its hold on whatever purchase it had found. Chat flipped through the air, landing gracefully on the balls of her feet, reeling her yo-yo in with a flick of her wrist.

 _Whoa_. He knew she could move, but _damn_. Seeing it in broad daylight for the first time was a new experience. Sadly, there was no time to admire the litheness of his partner. Ladybug pushed himself to his feet and ran.

Chat Noire spun around to see Ladybug charging at the akuma with his staff brandished at his side. Knowing she had a few seconds before he'd need her, she turned her attention to the four tourists who seemed torn between running and gawking at the fight. She decided to help them along; English was not her strong suit but she knew enough to get the point across. "Go!" she yelled at them in their language and hoped they'd understand her through her accent. "Run away!"

They stood there for a moment longer, gawking at her now. Out of patience, Chat lunged forward with a hiss. Her animalistic response seemed to startle them back into themselves and three of them booked it in the opposite direction of the akuma that was getting to its feet. She could hear Ladybug taunting it. She needed to get over there now but one of the Americans, a young woman, remained frozen in place. Chat opened her mouth to say something more but then the young woman darted over to her crystalized friend and placed one of her hands on his arm, then the other. She tugged, and— _oh._ She was trying to drag him.

Chat heard the sound of the glass whizzing through the air, the tiny pieces clinking against each other, followed by Ladybug letting out a loud whoop. She glanced his way in time to see him dance neatly out of the path of the flying glass, baton held behind his back.

"Go," Chat Noire urged her in English. The woman's lips trembled. "You need to go now! You will become glass!"

The woman regarded her for a moment longer, finally nodding and fleeing in the same direction as her companions. Chat Noire raced towards Ladybug.

He was dancing around the Glass, leaping from car to car to the pavement and back again. The Glass had its hand outstretched, firing blast after blast of shards at the lively superhero. "Missed me!" Ladybug laughed after he dodged a blast. "…Missed me again! …Woo! …Can't you swat one measly bug? …Come on, minou, help _meow_ t!"

She'd known Ladybug was playful. If he hadn't taken things very seriously during the last week, it could be attributed to the light-hearted nature of their time together; but this blatantly carefree attitude in the face of very real danger was new. She didn't quite know what to make of it, but one thing was for sure: that Bug was having _fun._ Fun! While fighting a monster that could kill him, no less. He was absolutely insane. He had to be.

Chat Noire flung her yo-yo towards the Glass and it wrapped around its shooting arm. She yanked and successfully pulled its arm away from its intended trajectory. The Glass growled and turned around. Its face had features but they were frozen, like the statues, except for its mouth, which was open wide and displaying a number of sharp incisors. Chat's eyes widened. "Uh oh."

The Glass pulled back, hard, and Chat Noire went flying. She heard Ladybug cry out in alarm. Chat gritted her teeth and flipped her body around mid-air so that her feet slammed right into the Glass's midsection. It stumbled back from the force and she landed on her back, grunting as the air rushed out of her. Ladybug darted in, then, swinging his baton around like a bat at the Glass's head. It was a direct hit and a part of its head actually broke off and went flying. The Glass roared in anger but other than stumbling from the force, it didn't react at all.

It was like a zombie, for cryin' out loud! Damageable but unstoppable unless you hit its weak spot! _…Oh_ , Chat grinned, _Not unstoppable; just un-killable._ They _could_ be stopped. Knock off a zombie's legs and it would try to crawl after you, but it wouldn't make it very far. The akuma was its weak spot, yes, but there were other ways of stopping the Glass.

Chat worked her yo-yo free and reeled it back in, a plan already beginning to form in her mind. Her eyes widened when the Glass took aim at her and she barrel rolled away from the stream of shards.

"Hey! Chihuly!" Ladybug yelled to get its attention as Chat raised her head. The akuma swung its arm around to fire at Ladybug but in that split second, Chat spotted something in its palm. Something solid and blue and the only thing that stood out on the monster.

 _The akuma!_

"Bug!" she yelled, springing to her feet. "I think I found it!"

"The akuma?!" He yelled back, dodging another blast. "Where?"

"The palm of its hand—it's blue!"

Ladybug back flipped to avoid another stream and she saw his eyes narrow at the Glass's hand. "I see it!" he yelled just before he landed. "Any ideas, Chat?"

Before she could respond, a loud whirring suddenly drew her attention skyward. Helicopters! She hadn't even heard them coming. And not just any helicopters, either, oh no. _Police Nationale._ There were three of them looming ominously overheard. Ladybug landed beside her a split second later, both of their heads trained upward. As they watched, cables were tossed down, and one by one, uniformed officers began to descend.

"Now what?" she fretted. There was no way the police could stop this akuma; they'd just end up getting themselves turned to glass or, if, heaven forbid, they started shooting, they could break the civilian statues.

Ladybug gritted his teeth. "Now we stop this from turning into a scene out of _Batman Begins_."

"What does that even mean?!" she sputtered. The Glass had noticed its oncoming opponents and it let out a loud scream, tortured and riddled with the sound of a thousand pieces of glass scraping together. It raised its hand and fired at the closest officer, which was only a few feet from the ground. The man howled in fear as he was overwhelmed by shards and in a flash of light he was gone, replaced by a glass statue. Without a strong grip to keep it in place, the statue plummeted.

Chat screamed, covering her mouth with his hands.

The statue shattered into a thousand different pieces.

She screamed again and started forward but Ladybug put his hand on her shoulder to stop her. She looked up at him and saw her own horror mirrored on his face.

"I can save him," he promised but his wavering voice betrayed his conviction. The Glass fired again, this time at the next officer on that line.

Chat Noire tore her gaze away from the akuma and looked up at her partner once more. "It's weak. With enough force, you can break it just like normal glass. If we can break its arm off, it won't be able to fire."

Ladybug's expression hardened and he nodded. "Yeah, but this guy's solid glass all the way through. I was using all of my strength when I knocked part of its head off. It's not as easy as it looks."

"Yes, but, it is possible. And since its arm is its only weapon…wouldn't you say it'd be pretty unlucky if it was suddenly gone?" She grinned slyly, feeling very much like a cat in that moment. Ladybug took a second to get her meaning but then he smirked and twirled his staff.

"Don't worry, mon minou, I'll buy you some time."

"Hey! You two!"

Chat Noire and Ladybug turned around. Overhead, the helicopters were leaving, the remaining officers retreating back up the line, but it seemed one of them had actually made it to the ground. He was running towards them with a truncheon in his hand. Marinette would've cowered, would've taken a step back, put her hands in the air to show him she meant no harm. But Chat Noire's hackles went up and her tail lashed in annoyance. There was no time to deal with him.

"Ladybug, go," Chat hissed but he was already moving.

"Wings out!" There was a flash of light and then the policeman stopped dead in his tracks, staring behind Chat Noire at the boy that was suddenly flying through the air.

Chat's tail lashed once more as she turned. She called on her own unlucky power with the signature word she had come up with: "Jinx!"

Dark power flowed through her and out through her palms, which she pressed together to form the sphere of bad luck. Her eyes danced around, searching for something, _anything_ that would work. She had seconds before the bad luck would start playing with her mind, tempting her to use it in the worst way; she couldn't afford to be seen struggling with her own powers.

Several objects glowed purple for an instant, all of them things she could potentially use. Rubble, tires, discarded belongings. What drew her eye the most, however, was a manhole cover in the middle of the road. With a grin, she darted forward on all-fours, careful to keep the hand cradling the bad luck curled into a fist. She landed on the manhole and opened her hand, allowing the bad luck to seep into the metal.

Leaping back nimbly, she dug her fingers into the holes of the manhole and lifted it up. It should have been far heavier but as Chat she had strength that Marinette could only dream of. She knew she'd be able to throw it like as easily as if it were a notebook. That probably should've scared her.

Ladybug was zipping around over the akuma's head, keeping its attention and blasts focused on him, while diving every few seconds to whack at it with his baton; he never did more than chip its exterior. He was lucky his baton was basically invulnerable because an ordinary weapon would have long since been broken under the force.

Chat Noire narrowed her eyes. Each time Ladybug would dive and then fly back up, the Glass would retaliate by firing glass at him—and each time, its arm was extended and wide open. "Ladybug!" Chat shouted. "Go up!"

He glanced at her, nodding once, then shot into the air. As expected, the Glass raised its arm up high to continue firing. Chat spun around to gain momentum, arms outstretched with the manhole cover held in front of her—and with a loud grunt of exertion, she hurled the metal disc at the akuma. It sailed through faster than she expected and collided with the akumas arm, right in the center of its elbow. It tore through the solid glass like it was nothing and the severed arm clattered to the pavement.

The Glass screamed, a wordless shriek of utter fury that spurned Chat Noire into action. She raced towards it, rebounding off the cars on the way for a speed boost. Ladybug dove, arcing his body so he came in at an angle, and slammed into the akuma's side. Off-balance without one arm, the Glass easily bowled over, leaving the way clear for Chat Noire to dart in and snag the arm.

It was heavy but not much more so than the manhole cover and completely still. Lucky for her, the hand had been open when it had been severed, and she only had to flip the arm over to get a good look at what she suspected to contain the akuma. It was a small sapphire in the shape of an oval embedded into the glass. Crap, crap, _crap!_

Thinking quickly, Chat Noire flipped the arm over, gripping the end in her hands, brought it up over her head, and slammed the hand down against the pavement. Once; twice; thrice; each hit punctuated with a word: "Come…out…you…stupid…akuma!"

On the fifth and final word, the hand shattered, a black butterfly flying free. "Ladybug!" she screamed, watching it flutter away. But her partner was several yards away, facing down their enraged foe. By the time he got after it, the akuma would be well on its way to freedom.

 _Catch it in your yo-yo!_ Plagg urged in her mind. _The top opens if you…_

She didn't waste time questioning his orders as they came. Reaching for the yo-yo hooked to her waist, Chat Noire ran her pointer finger across the smooth surface of it and, to her surprise, light appeared where her finger touched. It slid open, revealing a glowing purple interior. She swung it around like a lasso. "Get back here!" she yelled as she flung her yo-yo forward. To her immense delight, the yo-yo scooped the akuma up like a butterfly net, and the panels closed, trapping the akuma, as it returned to her hand. "Gotchya!"

Ladybug landed in front of her then, grinning broadly, and held out his hands. "If you would please, mon minou."

Chat tapped the top of her yo-yo and it opened wide, revealing the trapped akuma. It tried once again to make a break for it but this time Ladybug was ready. He caught it in his hands and closed his eyes for a few moments. He opened his hands, the corruption swirled around his right palm and an innocent, white butterfly perched on his left. It was strangely cute and Chat Noire realized in that moment that the akuma itself wasn't evil, but rather it had been forced to do evil, much like the Glass.

It lingered for a moment, a warm feeling growing in Chat's stomach, and then fluttered its wings and took to the sky. The two heroes watched it go and Chat gave it a tiny wave.

"Bye bye, little butterfly," she sing-songed and Ladybug laughed. He reached for his baton and opened a small compartment in the top. He fed the corruption into it and closed the lid. Chat stared in fascination.

"My turn," he winked at her. Just like the butterfly, he began flapping his wings and he jumped into the air. He flew up several dozen feet and spread his arms out wide, spinning in tight circles. Bright red light flared around his wings and dispersed into the air. Chat Noire gasped as the light sailed up and down the street. The glass arm disappeared at her feet, leaving behind only the blue oval, now intact, which she picked up. Buildings and vehicles were repaired, the thousands of glass shards scattered across the street disappeared, and the people who had been turned to glass statues were returned to their normal state, disoriented but otherwise unharmed. Chat gasped in relief when she saw the shattered police officers standing in a cluster where they had fallen. The last thing to be undone was the Glass itself. The light engulfed the monster and when it disappeared, a young man was left in its place.

Ladybug slowly descended back to the ground but Chat's gaze was fixed solely on the middle-aged man kneeling on the ground. She'd known that there was an ordinary person beneath the monster but, somehow, she'd been expecting something other than this. Something more. But he was just…normal. Black hair, brown skin, dark eyes wide with confusion, wearing ordinary clothes. There was nothing extraordinary about him, nothing malicious, no indication that he had potentially just murdered dozens of innocents. He was just… _a_ _person._

Her partner shaking her shoulder jolted Chat Noire out of her reverie and she looked up at him, mouth agape. "We did it!" he crowed gleefully. He moved as if to hug her but then caught himself. A frown flashed across his face for a moment but then it was gone and he lifted his fist and held it out invitingly.

Chat Noire grinned and bumped her fist against his.

Around them, the people who'd been hiding had realized it was safe and were emerging from both inside and under cars, behind trees, inside stores, and whatever other shelters they had taken. The former glass statues were coming down from their panicked highs and though they were still confused, the herd mentality of humans was taking over and there was a crowd of people edging towards them. There was awe, shock, curiosity, confusion, fear, and even anger. Phones and cameras were out and recording every movement of the two superheroes.

Ladybug and Chat Noire turned in a slow circle, taking it all in.

"Now what?" he whispered.

"Why are you asking me?" she hissed in reply.

"You're the tactician!"

"Well…"

"What's going on?!" the akuma victim blurted out. Chat Noire winced. They couldn't just leave him.

The crowd was keeping its distance, she noticed, as if in collective agreement that the two costumed figures might not be as harmless as they looked. After all, one of them had just thrown a manhole cover like a toy and the other had been flying.

Chat Noire gripped the sapphire in her hand tightly, slowly approached the man. He looked her up and down warily, shying away as she neared. "Hey," she soothed. "It's okay now." Kneeling down in front of him, she held out the sapphire. "Is this yours?"

He gasped, eyes flicking between her face and the object in her hand, then he carefully leaned forward and took it from her. He sighed, closing his eyes, and pressed it to his lips. "Thank you."

"It wasn't your fault," she told him. "If they don't believe you, we'll make them see, but it wasn't your fault. You were being controlled."

The man's eyes widened. "That voice—that was real?"

Chat Noire nodded. "I'm so sorry." Her miraculous interrupted then, beeping its first warning. She straightened up. "Just remember: no matter what you may see or hear about today, it wasn't you. You didn't do those things."

"What things?"

She pressed her lips together and his eyes flicked to something just behind her, widening in surprise, and she realized her tail was flicking from side to side of its own accord. Without saying anything, she backed away to stand by Ladybug.

"—an evil spirit." Her partner was saying. A glance over her shoulder showed her that the lone officer on the scene had managed to make his way over to them while everyone else hung back. "We've cleansed it of this evil and released the harmless spirit back into the world. He has no memory of what he did while under its influence and cannot be held accountable. Like the Piper, he was used."

"And this is what you do?" the officer asked. "You stop these _akumas_ and you get rid of the cause?"

Ladybug's miraculous let out a beep and the boy cleared his throat quickly. "Pretty much, yeah." He cleared his throat. "We'd be happy to explain things officially some other time. Right now, though, we have to bug out. Chat Noire?" He turned to her and unclipped his baton from where he'd stashed it on his belt.

She nodded and grabbed her yo-yo, throwing it it at the nearest rooftop. They took off at a run. The crowd gasped and screamed, people in their path scattering to both sides. Chat triggered the mechanism that would reel the string in. Beside her, Ladybug planted his staff firmly against the ground and it began to extend. They both jumped at almost exactly the same time and up they went. Ladybug let out a loud whoop and Chat Noire laughed giddily.

They returned their weapons to normal size and took off across the rooftops together. If they were at a point in their relationship where they felt comfortable about discussing such things, both would agree that _this_ , running together on top of the world, was the best part. There was no pressure to learn anything or keep themselves secret; just the wind in their hair, their powers thrumming inside their bodies, and an amazing obstacle course laid out in front of them begging to be conquered. Here, in these moments, they were just two kids having the time of their lives, completely free.

They stopped just over a mile from the Champs-Élysées, each of them down to their third spot, and doubled over to catch their breath for a moment. Then they glanced up, catching the other's eye. Chat Noire giggled, Ladybug giggled, and within seconds they were both laughing out loud like a pair of idiots.

"That was awesome!" Ladybug yelled, punctuating the last word with a jump.

"I know!" Chat squeed. "You were amazing! The way you kept dodging like that—oh, god, you about gave me a heart attack!"

"And you with that Tarzan thing! And how did you catch the akuma? I didn't know you could do that!"

"Me neither!" She bounced up and down. "My kwami told me how!"

Their miraculous beeped again, almost simultaneously, sobering them but not quite killing the glee in the air. Ladybug's grin softened into a warm smile. "Well then, mon minou. Same time, same place tomorrow night?"

Chat Noire nodded. "See you then…my Lady."

"'My Lady?!'" he protested as she walked away.

"If you get to call me 'kitty' then I get to call you 'my lady'. It's only fair, wouldn't you agree, _Ladybug_?" She grinned and threw a wink at him over her shoulder.

His laughter followed her as she jumped over the edge of the building into the alley below. She knew he could easily run to the edge and look over the side to see which way she went but she also knew he wouldn't do that. He would never betray her like that.

Maybe she wasn't all bad luck. After all, she had him.


	4. Ladybug Print

**Sorry for the long wait, I've been working on something from WAY down the line in this AU that won't be seen for a while but needed to be written.**

 **Please enjoy these dorks being cute.**

* * *

Chat Noire's foot slipped against the wet shingles and nearly topped off the roof in surprise. Catlike reflexes kicked in and she landed on all fours, bounding forward a few feet to the nearest flat surface, which happened to be a parapet. She straightened up and rounded on her partner, frowning at him.

Ladybug landed beside her, a bemused expression on his face.

"You what?" she demanded.

"I'd like you to redesign my suit," he repeated. He held up his arms, which were ladybug-print on the top and black on the undersides, along with most of his suit. "I mean, this one is pretty neat and its very good for stealth but—"

Chat Noire held up one clawed finger to silence him. "You. Want me. To redesign your suit."

"Is there an echo out here?"

"Why?" she asked. "What's wrong with your current suit?"

"Nothing's _wrong_ , exactly, I just…I don't know, I think it'd be better if there was more color on it."

Chat Noire blinked several times then looked him and up and down twice before settling her eyes on his face, which was bright with hope. "You're serious. You want me—why me? Wait, no. Who else could do it?"

"Edna Mode?"

She rolled her eyes. "Are you sure you want to do this?"

Ladybug nodded. "One hundred percent. You did a good job re-designing yours so I figured you could come up with something better than me. My kwami and I discussed it and as long as you stick to a few guidelines, she can do it."

She folded her arms. "What guidelines?"

"Well, it has to stick with the ladybug theme, obviously, so only red and black. It has to cover from here—" he tapped the neckline of his suit "—down. It has to be aerodynamic and convenient for flight. The mask can't be any smaller than it is. There has to be a place for my baton to hook and a belt. Other than that…anything goes. Personally, I'd like there to be more color."

Chat Noire twisted her lips thoughtfully and sank down into a crouch, staring across the cityscape. Ladybug knelt down next to her. She could do it, she knew she could, it wasn't a question of her skills or lack of time to do it in. She was just worried she wouldn't be able to come up with anything he'd approve of. Glancing his way again, she let hummed pensively.

"What do you mean by 'more color'?" she asked.

"I mean, more red."

"More ladybug print?"

Ladybug nodded. "Exactly, but I'd still like there to be some black. Please don't stick me in a solid ladybug print."

Chat Noire laughed, shaking her head. "No, that wouldn't look good on you. If I add more red, though, you'll stand out."

"Well, that's a good thing, right? With how things have been working, it's better if the akuma keep their eyes on me than you." Ladybug pointed out. "They're more likely to pay attention to the red than the black. Besides, I think stealth is more your thing, minou."

She hummed again in agreement. There were definite tactical benefits to having her partner, the Distraction™, in a brighter getup. Black looked good with his tan complexion but so, too, did the red so there was no need to worry about that. He would still need to seem intimidating, of course, which would be difficult if he was covered in polka dots. Finding a balance between the two colors would be a challenge. As would designing an outfit for someone she would have no references for except her memories.

Good thing Marinette loved a challenge.

"Alright," she finally conceded. "I'll do it."

He let out an excited whoop and did a backflip off the parapet, landing on the slanted roof behind him with ease.

"But—"

"Thank you!"

"Bug!" She held up her hand, furrowing her brows. "You have to give me a few days. I mean it. I won't have you buzzing around while I'm trying to work. Pun not intended," she added when she saw the mischief spark in his eyes. She slid off the parapet and straightened. "I'll bring you some designs, colored, and you can pick which one you like."

Her partner rocked back and forth on the balls of his feet and hopped up and down once in excitement. "Awesome!"

"And you're not to tell anyone that I'm doing this. Ever."

Ladybug raised his hand. "Bug's honor. Not a word. Thank you so much, minou!"

Plagg wasn't quite as enthusiastic. Actually, he was rather opposed to the whole idea and he couldn't believe Tikki was letting one of his cats have a say in what one of her bugs wore. Marinette didn't really see what the big deal was and told Plagg if he didn't like it then he didn't have to participate. And he didn't, not even once, over the next two days. Not even so much as a snide remark. She assumed it was just a kwami thing and dismissed it. Ladybug asked for her help, that was all the permission she needed.

Marinette had plenty of experience with polka dots and she knew how to make them work. Her designs over the next two days involved polka dots ranging, when scaled, from the size of her thumbnail to the size of cricket balls. She was favoring the larger spots as the smaller ones would inevitably become too numerous and cluttered or were just too cutesy for a hero. Red and black complimented each other very well but some of her designs had too much of one or the other and she scrapped them.

Alya came by once without warning on the first day and it was only Plagg's sharp hearing that allowed Marinette enough time to hide the incriminating sketches before her best friend burst through the trap door. Ever since learning of their existence, Alya had been quite ecstatic about the superheroes and Marinette knew her well enough to see that this was quickly spiraling into the category of 'obsession'. She wasn't quite sure how to feel about it but there was a definite potential of danger brewing. Her best friend couldn't know she was Chat Noire. Even if Plagg hadn't been firm on the _tell no one_ rule, she wouldn't have done it. It wasn't safe for anyone, especially Alya. She was just an ordinary girl and it pained Marinette to make the distinction because she wasn't one herself anymore.

"Marinette! You've got to see this!" Alya shoved her phone into Marinette's face before she could even ask what was up. Marinette blinked, eyes adjusting to the sudden proximity, and she took the phone from her friend's hands. Then nearly dropped it.

It was them!

Well, Chat Noire and Ladybug, taken last night. The picture was blurry and there wasn't much to see, just two black figures racing along a slanted rooftop that she knew was dangerously slick after the rain they'd had, and the only real indication they weren't just two daredevils was the tail streaming out behind one of them and the triangles perched on top of their head. She had no idea when it had been taken or where but it was a hard reminder that people knew they were there and were watching.

Ladybug's new suit, whatever it may be, wouldn't just make him more noticeable to the akumas. She hoped he realized that.

Alya was waiting for a reaction. Marinette's jaw dropped and she blurted out, "Ohmygosh! Is this _them_? How did you get this?!"

Alya launched into her tale and Marinette spent the entire time feeling her stomach twisting into knots. Walking around at night trying to find danger so she could be there when the heroes arrived—of all the idiotic… Things had only just begun and her friend was already in too deep.

"—starting a blog."

Marinette blinked and shook her head, taken aback. "You what?!"

She nodded eagerly. "Yeah! Everyone's curious about them and I thought it'd be really cool to make a blog where I can post pictures and videos. Compile evidence and resources and all that stuff. Maybe figure out where these akumus—"

 _Akumas_ , Marinette wanted to correct her but she didn't say a word. She didn't try to discourage her, either, because she knew that this was the kind of thing that, just a few weeks ago, she would have encouraged Alya to do. Journalism and blogging were her passions and when she got excited about something, this is what she did.

Marinette didn't have to help her, though. "Just be careful," she pleaded.

"Oh, I will,"Alya promised and Marinette had a sinking feeling that she would do nothing of the sort. She just hoped Alya would never recognize her face beneath the mask. …Maybe Ladybug being brighter would be a good thing.

She felt yet another twinge of regret. Alya was always supportive of her designs and she loved looking at them, even when they weren't very good. She would love to have a second opinion about a few things since Plagg really did seem determined to keep out of it, but Alya would lose her mind if she saw them and Marinette would have to admit to knowing Ladybug. Alya might put two and two together and…just, no.

Between Alya and her parents, Marinette didn't have much time to work in peace during the day so she ended up doing a lot of her sketching late at night. Ladybug didn't contact her once and it was weird not going out to meet him but he'd agreed to handle things by himself for a few days, barring an emergency, to give her time to work in peace. She could've asked him to fly to Italy for pizza and he would've done it.

By the third morning after agreeing to take on the job, Marinette had three designs she was satisfied with, all colored and ready to be presented to her partner. She held them up for Plagg to inspect but the kwami turned away from them with a quiet, 'hmph.'

"Plaaaaaggg." Marinette leaned around so she could see his face and pouted. After a moment, Plagg peeked one eye open, saw her expression and sighed irritably.

"It's not my place to judge," he insisted. "That boy will like them, I'm sure."

"How can you say that if you haven't seen them?"

Plagg gave her a flat look. "You really haven't noticed?"

Marinette cocked her head. "Noticed what?"

"Oh boy," he muttered. "Are you going to contact him now, or what?"

After setting her chair firmly over the trapdoor to prevent any sudden intrusions, she transformed into Chat Noire and climbed up to her bed. She settled herself in the far corner where he wouldn't be able to see any part of her room and she could transform back quickly without being seen by anyone trying to come into her room. She opened her communicator and called him. She knew from experience that, on his end, his miraculous would begin to tingle against his skin and his kwami would feel it, too. This form of communication was risky and was only to be done when necessary. They had a rule: let it ring for one minute then hang up. The other could call back as soon as possible. If it was an emergency then they should let it keep ringing until the other answered.

It took him ten minutes to call her back and he was outside when he did. She could see a dark rooftop behind him and the wind blew his hair around his face. _"Bonjour, minou!"_

" _Bonjour._ I'm finished."

His face lit up. _"Really? Do you want to meet now? I've got time."_

"I was just going to give them to you tonight."

" _But if we meet up now then I can get it switched over before tonight,"_ he pointed out. _"I'm excited. Please, please."_ And just to make sure she couldn't refuse, he gave her a wide-eyed, pleading look.

Chat Noire sighed. "That's not fair. That is completely unfair and you know it, but fine. Fine! Our rooftop. Half an hour."

" _So long?"_

"I need to make an appearance around my family before I disappear. Half an hour or tonight. Your choice."

" _Half an hour it is. See you then. And thank you!"_

Marinette thanked her lucky stars that her parents didn't need her to help out this morning and they accepted her announcement that she was going to the park with smiles and orders to be safe and have fun. She ate breakfast quickly and placed the pages with her designs in a simple blue folder. She would have to be careful on her run over to their rooftop.

She transformed in an alley near her house and tucked the folder into her belt. Then she scaled the walls by way of climbing up ledges and rebounding from one side to the other.

With the exception of akuma attacks, Parisians were unaccustomed to seeing either hero out in the open in broad daylight and she had no idea how people would react, but she knew she wouldn't go unnoticed. Sure enough, whenever she used her yoyo to swing herself across streets, cries of shock and shouts of her name echoed after her. Once or twice she stopped to wave at someone who'd called her name excitedly before racing off again.

 _This is good,_ she thought. _People like me._

Ladybug, of course, was already waiting when she arrived. He was sitting in the shadow of the pink chimney, which was even more outlandish in the daytime, so as not to draw attention to himself. He smiled brilliantly at her when she touched down and jumped to his feet.

"Eager, are we?" she teased.

He nodded. "Pawsitively."

"Start that and I will take these right back home," she warned, angling the hip with the folder on it away from him.

Ladybug's eyes widened and he placed his hands behind his back, hunching his shoulders meekly. "I'll be good."

She eyed him suspiciously for perhaps a moment longer then necessary then reached for the folder. He perked up immediately, like a puppy presented with a new toy, and patiently waited for her to place it in his hands. He then opened it eagerly, pulling out the three sheets of paper, and slowly sat down.

Ladybug carefully flipped through them, eyes wide, and mouth open in either shock or awe. She couldn't tell. Each paper had three different sketches of each outfit: front, back, and side, along with a few detailed sketches of smaller areas like the gloves to show how his Miraculous would look against his hand. He went through them once, quickly, then again more slowly and she watched his eyes dart around as he took in every single detail. Chat Noire fidgeted in front of him, waiting.

"Th-these are amazing," he finally stammered. Chat Noire bit her lip. "Really! You're _good_ at this, and I know what I'm talking about," he added with a grin at her though there was something almost…bitter underlying his words. She couldn't imagine why and decided she must have imagined it.

She beamed at the praise. "So, you like them?"

"Heck yeah!" He was overjoyed and she felt her cheeks reddening. "I don't know how to even choose…. Which one's your favorite?"

"Well, I like them all…"

"Yeah, but you have to have a favorite." Ladybug prompted.

"Well…." Chat Noire crouched down next to him, using one hand for balance and the other to leaf through the sheets until she found last design she'd worked on. She'd been nearly out of ideas and had decided to go for something simple. She'd ended up liking it a lot more than she thought she would.

His current suit had ladybug print on the back, shoulders and the tops of the arms with black covering the rest. With the exception of his back, she'd simply reversed everything. This design had a black collar and the color continued across his upper chest, over his shoulders, and down the tops of his arms, extending clear down his fingers. The black ended on the undersides of his fingers where his palms began. A black belt rested at the waist with a clasp for him to hook his baton to while in flight. The boots, black, came up just past his ankles. The rest of the suit was ladybug print, the spots roughly the size of tennis balls. She'd left the mask as it was, three dots around his eyes and one in the center, each side a perfect mirror of the other.

He hummed, looking the design over again. "So minou, do you think you could handle seeing me in this almost every day?"

"It'd be pretty hard not to see you in this," she quipped. "You're going to stand out. A lot. That reminds me, I know for a fact that people got pictures of us the other night. You could only tell it was us because—" she gestured to her hears and wiggled them for good measure "—but if you make the switch, people are definitely going to notice us more."

Ladybug shrugged. "I don't mind. People already notice us as it is. You didn't answer my question."

"Yes," she said. "I think I can handle it. I'm more worried about the cosplayers who're already hard at work being unable to."

He barked a laugh, shaking his head. He gave the other two designs one final look then nodded. "I'll go with this one."

"Are you sure?"

"Mmhmm." He handed her the folder and the other two sheets, looking down at the chosen design again. "This is going to be awesome. You're really awesome at this, did I mention that?"

Chat Noire turned her face away so he wouldn't see the embarrassed blush on her cheeks. "You did. And you owe me, you know."

"Of course," he agreed. "Name your price."

"Price? No, I don't want money. This wasn't a commission, it was a favor." She was a bit horrified at the prospect of taking money from him, to be honest.

He furrowed his brow in confusion. "Then what do you want?"

"Tit for tat. You found out something about me now I get one thing about you."

Ladybug smirked. "Alright. Let me think."

Chat Noire busied herself by tucking the two rejected designs back into the safety of her folder. She would have to burn them or shred them, there was no way she could risk them going into the trash. Or maybe she could keep them? She'd have to find a safe place to store them and a good excuse in case they were ever found—

"I like fencing."

She looked at him in surprise. "Really? You any good?"

He nodded proudly. "Award winning."

"I guess that explains your fighting style." Nodding once, she pushed herself up. "Alright, then. I guess that's that. I'll see you here tonight?"

Ladybug jumped to his feet and carefully folded the piece of paper in half, then in half again, and unzipped one of the pockets in the stomach of his suit. Chat Noire smacked her forehead.

"Crap! I forgot about the pockets!"

He laughed, tucking the paper inside for safekeeping. "Don't worry about it, we can still add them. Besides, they're hard to see, no wonder you forgot."

She smiled ruefully. "Make sure your kwami has a good look at it. I worked hard."

"Don't worry, she won't miss a single detail," he assured her. "We've both been pretty eager."

"My kwami was a bit, er—he was surprised you asked me to do this. And that she's letting you get away with it."

Ladybug cocked his head to the side. "Really? She was all for it."

 _WHAT?!_ Plagg yelped and Chat Noire pressed her lips together. She shrugged her shoulders in response and pulled out her yo-yo. "See you tonight, Bug!"

"Thanks again!" he called after her as she swung away.

Thirteen hours later, Ladybug strutted around the rooftop in his new suit with all the air and confidence of a model and Chat Noire laughed so hard she ended up on her hands and knees. The following morning, there were no less than thirty different pictures circulating social media, a few even appearing on the news, of Chat Noire and Ladybug, in all his spotted glory.

* * *

 **I actually have the design for this on my tablet. I need someone to properly draw it out.**

 **SOON. I will begin re-writing episodes. (Ask my DW readers, I'm _good_ at that.) **


	5. Soft Kitty, Warm Kitty

**IN WHICH MARNITTE STRUGGLES**

* * *

When Plagg told Marinette he chose people who had cats in their souls, she hadn't realized he meant it _literally_. She also hadn't realized that bonding with him would awaken that cat. A little warning would have been nice or at least a bit of remorse from her kwami after the fact. She got neither.

After becoming Chat Noire, Marinette immediately noticed the changes in her behavior. Certain…urges that hadn't been there before. They were stronger when she was transformed but always lurking…waiting…. She quickly devoted energy into controlling these pesky new urges so as not to blow her cover (or make anyone think she was a freak). She wanted to smack things hanging from the walls and found rapidly moving objects utterly fascinating. Curling up in a ball was suddenly a comfortable way to sleep, which was odd because she'd always been one to sleep sprawled out. In fact, she found she enjoyed tight spaces quiet a lot. Probably more than she should, if she was being honest.

And then, of course, there was the…pigeon incident. Fortunately for her, the urge to hunt things hadn't cropped back up since then. At least birds. She rued the day she came face to face with a mouse.

She'd taken to moving her chaise into the sun streaming through her windows and laying there while working on things or reading. Sometimes she forwent the chaise altogether and just laid out on the floor, rolling and scooching to keep in the sun as it moved. Plagg would usually join her whilst snacking on some cheese.

And that was another thing. While she was quite sure her appetite for cheese hadn't changed, her appetite for milk _had_. Her mother had no objections at all, she actually encouraged her to drink as much milk as she wanted and dismissed her apologies for going through so much of it in such a short period of time. Little did she know that some of it had gone to Plagg, as well. She also noticed her mouth watering when presented with meat. Fortunately, she was able to contain herself.

Her senses had taken a nice jump. In the suit, she would say they were comparable to a cat's, and while they were nowhere near the same level out of it, there was a marked improvement from what they had been all of her life. Details were sharper and her needlework had never been better. Smells were more potent, which was both good and bad, though she couldn't easily separate them like she could as Chat, which made tracking difficult, but not impossible. Sounds were clearer, for better or worse. Most annoying of all: she felt uncomfortable wearing more than about two layers of clothing. Fortunately, given that it was the middle of summer, she hadn't had to wear too many layers. Winter would be a challenge.

She'd always been graceful and a gymnastics background certainly helped that along. She almost wished she could sign back up, just to test out her newfound reflexes in a controlled environment. With her luck, however, she'd likely manage to impress someone enough that they'd never let her leave and next thing you know, Chat Noire's alter ego is in the Olympics. (Maybe a bit far-fetched but she wasn't risking it.)

Marinette thanked her lucky stars every time she took a shower that the feline dislike of water hadn't manifested within her. However, on a chilly, rainy day at the end of July, Marinette discovered that she did not enjoy being soaked to the bone while clothed. Not one. Little. Bit. When she was younger she used to play in the rain. She'd go up on her balcony and splash and dance until her mother demanded she go back inside and dry off. It seemed those days were over.

Marinette stalked into the apartment, dripping wet and grumpy, with an equally wet and angry kwami peeking out of her pocket. It wasn't storming out but the sheer amount of water falling from the sky made up for the lack of thunder and of course she, the Black Cat of Bad Luck, had been caught out in it. Plagg had yowled in protest for about half of her run home until he'd simply given up in favor of suffering in silence. Both of her parents were down in the bakery, thank goodness, although from the smell of things, her mother wouldn't be for long.

Her nose wasn't good enough to determine exactly what was being cooked but she knew meat when she smelled it. Curious, Marinette trudged over to the oven to have a look, and was immediately struck by the warmth she could feel radiating off of it even several feet away.

From the time Marinette was old enough to wander into the walk, she knew to tread carefully around the oven and when it came to the ovens down the bakery, she was _never_ touch the doors without oven mitts. She'd always obeyed, even before she understood what a burn felt like, or that the oven would do much worse if she wasn't careful. She'd always enjoyed the heat that would radiate off of them, especially in the winter when it was freezing outside and the warmth of the bakery called to her.

She had always enjoyed warmth but suddenly the urge to press herself against the source of it was overwhelming. Had anyone witnessed the change come over her, they would have seen Marinette's pupils dilate and her body sag as if under some great weight. Her knees went first, followed by the rest of her. She scooted the last few feet on her knees and pressed herself right up against the warm oven doors.

"What in the world are you doi—oh." Plagg, who had emerged from his pocket to see why his charge was not heading for her room and a set of nice _dry_ clothes, immediately fell silent upon realizing what she was doing. "Oh, yes. Good," he told her as he crawled to her other side and snuggled his tiny body against the metal doors as well. "Aaaaah, that's more like it."

Marinette was strongly inclined to agree. The warmth seeped through her skin and down to her very bones, warming her. The scent of whatever was cooking inside permeated the space around her, filling her nose with its savory scent, and made her mouth water. It was _heaven_.

And it was on that same rainy day in July that Marinette discovered perhaps the single most important thing that Plagg had completely failed to mention about being Chat Noire.

She _purred._

It started softly at first and she felt it rather than heard it, deep in her chest. Then, slowly, it grew louder until a fur blown purr rumbled in her throat. Plagg echoed it with a purr of his own. Marinette was fully aware of what she was doing, just as she was aware on some level that she should probably be at least freaking out over this development, but she was _warm_ and there was _meat_ and she didn't care. It was strangely soothing by itself but combined with the sound of Plagg's, it made her feel safe. Even when the door began to get uncomfortably hot against her skin, the purr didn't die in her chest. She simply plucked Plagg from her lap and shifted around so her other side could press against the doors, before returning him to her lap. It was bliss.

At least until the door opened and her mother walked in. Marinette's purr died in her throat before her mother could hear it and Plagg was able to burrow into jacket in time, but she there wasn't time to get away from the oven, which was how Sabine came to find her daughter cozied up against the oven. Then she had to endure a bout of parental ire and concern before being shooed to her room to dry off, for goodness sakes.

"Sooo," Marinette drawled once they were alone in her room and Plagg had floated out into the open. "Care to explain?"

The tiny kwami flicked his tail. "Explain what?"

"What was _that_?"

"You tell me, she's your mother."

"No! …y'know…" she trailed off uncomfortably. Plagg gave her a flat look and flicked his tail again. Evidently he wasn't going to help her out. Marinette sighed and muttered, "The purring."

"Ah," he replied as if he didn't already know. "Purring is a perfectly natural function for cats. It's both a display of happiness and comfort as well as a method of calming oneself."

"But I'm not a cat!" she protested.

"Maybe not physically," he agreed. "But you're not a normal human anymore, either. You may as well get used to it. Now please find me a towel. I can't stand having wet fur."

* * *

 **So should I do a companion piece for Adrien or...?**


	6. Ladybug, Ladybug

**For those who wanted a companion piece to Soft Kitty, Warm Kitty - here you are!**

* * *

Adrien knew almost from the beginning that things would be different after becoming Ladybug. Tikki had warned him before even the first signs began to show and was quick to point them out when they manifested, sometimes even before Adrien himself noticed. Other times she wasn't able to catch it in time and all she could do was explain to him afterwards.

Some of the changes weren't very drastic or noticeable. It took him months to figure out that he found lighter colors to be more appealing and he was more comfortable in lighter colored rooms. He had never been one for hot temperatures but he preferred them now over cold ones. Standing in front of a fan for ten minutes at a photoshoot had made him feel sluggish and uncomfortable, to the point where the photographer had to order him to take a break because he wasn't doing anything useable. Winter was going to be trouble; he just knew it.

Some changes were the exact opposite. They were big, impossible to ignore, and overall problematic.

Possessiveness was the first thing to manifest. After his initial reaction to seeing Chat Noire running on the rooftops before he knew who or what she was, he had been prompted to do a bit of research and confirmed that ladybugs were, indeed, very territorial. Within just a few weeks, he realized that fell into one of two categories: 'his' and 'not his'. His fencing equipment: his. The contents of his closet: his. The stuff on Natalie's desk: not his. Pretty straightforward.

The rooftops: his (and Chat Noire's, of course, but she was a special exception.) The Agreste Mansion: his. College Francois-Dupont: his. By extent, he considered Paris his as well, although he didn't expect anyone to ever try and contest this claim so he didn't think much of it.

Tikki: his. (Adrien: Tikki's.)

People were a bit more complicated. He recognized the fact that he couldn't own anyone but his brain (particularly while he was Ladybug) insisted that everyone was either his or not. On some level, he identified everyone in Paris as his. His city, his people. But it was the personal relationships that really defined who was his and who wasn't. His father, Natalie, Gorilla, and most of the house staff: his. The new gardener that had been hired when Adrien expressed an interest in having more flowers around the property: not his. And the rush of contempt he'd felt for the strange man upon seeing him in the yard had been quite a surprise.

Tikki reassured him that it wouldn't always be so intense. He wasn't a very possessive person by nature and his psyche was a bit overwhelmed by the new instincts. Sooner or later he'd find the whole thing much easier to manage and ignore.

Of course, it should come as no surprise to anyone that the person who held the number one spot in the 'his' category was his masked partner: Chat Noire. Every time he saw her, some part of his mind reminded him that she was _his_ and it a smile to his face. With it also came a sense of determination. They lived a dangerous life, after all. One might argue that between the two of them, he was the more important one since only he could purify akuma and set everything right, but that didn't stop him from throwing himself between her and their foe. He couldn't _not._ She was his and he protected what was his.

Aside from possessiveness, the other major change he'd noticed involved flowers. He'd never been a flower person. He could appreciate them for their beauty but he'd never been all that into them and it had been a long time since he'd stopped to smell them. Not anymore. It happened gradually after becoming Ladybug, so much so that he didn't notice it right away, and Tikki never said anything about it.

At first, it was flowers catching his eye more easily than before, which grew into a hyperawareness of any flowers around him at any given time. Then he found himself gravitating towards them, drawn in by their beauty and entranced by the strange yet _appetizing_ scent they all carried. By this point, he knew something was up. This was Not Normal and it had already gotten him in trouble once at a photoshoot. Apparently wondering off to smell some flowers he'd noticed on the way in was not acceptable model behavior. (Who knew, right?)

It was only once he actually _ate_ a marigold that Tikki stepped in. Adrien sat there, staring at the flower in his hand that he had just taken a bite out of, and tried very hard not to scream.

Then Tikki appeared at his elbow and regarded the flower with interest. She stared at it for a moment and then looked up at him. "Ladybugs eat pollen," she said without preamble. "Most humans are too big to get just pollen so my bugs that develop the taste for it usually end up just eating whole flowers. …You may as well finish it."

"I—I don't want to," he stammered.

"Oh. Can I have it then?"

He exhaled sharply through his nose in exasperation and lifted the flower invitingly. Tikki let out a gleeful trill and lunged towards it.

It was worse when he was transformed. Not only did he have all of the things that _Adrien_ dealt with when it came to flowers but _Ladybug_ would sort them all into two categories upon inspection: appetizing and unappetizing. He decided this had to be Tikki's influence because he lacked any frame of reference for such judgments. After doing a bit of research, he found that most of the flowers that he thought would be appetizing were the kind that attracted the beetles themselves.

Adrien often wondered if Chat Noire was going through her own similar struggles and Tikki assured him that she was. He wished he could talk to her about it but he wasn't sure how to even bring the subject up. _"So…have you found yourself in the position of doing really stupid cat things lately?"_ probably wouldn't go over very well. Fortunately (or unfortunately, in his opinion), the opportunity presented itself in September.

Ladybugs had a few natural predators, mostly bigger bugs, like spiders, and frogs. Frogs weren't much of a concern since he lived in a big city. Spiders, however, were a different story altogether. Yet another example of something Adrien had never paid much attention to before now. He'd always been the kid who refused to kill the spiders he found, he'd just scoop them onto a sheet of paper or something similar and turn them loose outside. (In the mind of his younger self, he didn't think it was fair to kill the spider because surely it had lots of friends out there that would miss it if it never came back.)

Fourteen years of kindness promptly went out the window when he spotted a spider scuttling across the floor of the dining room at lunch one afternoon. The sight of the arachnid sent a shot of fear through him unlike anything he was used to and tore an unholy (and definitely unmanly) shriek out of his mouth. He abandoned the room, his food, his dignity, and considered setting fire to the whole house just to kill the evil monster he now knew lurked within.

Tikki assured him he would have her complete support should he actually follow through.

So of course, less than a week after he discovered this fear, Hawkmoth unleashed the unholiest of akumas. Her name was the Arachnidame and when Ladybug first heard her shout her name, he thanked God that only her costume was spider-like. Chat Noire arrived not long after and they fell into their budding rhythm to locate her akuma and take her down whilst avoiding the sticky webbing she shot from her hands. It was going well…right up until the part Arachnidame decided she wanted some backup and transformed a group of unsuspecting civilians into spiders the size of large dogs.

Both heroes screamed at exactly the same time and at right about the same pitch.

Chat Noire took the new development in stride and began to whirl her yo-yo threateningly at the oncoming spiders.

Ladybug activated his wings. "NOPE!" He seized his partner by the waist.

"Bug?! What are you dooiiiiiii-IIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNGGG?!" she screeched as he shot into the air faster than the TGV.

"NOPE."

"Put me down!"

"NOPE."

"We can't just leave! We have to go back!"

"NOPE."

"LADYBUG!"

"SPIDERS, MINOU! SPIDERS EAT LADYBUGS!"

Chat Noire's protests died in her throat and she gaped at him. Then, to his shock, she nodded in understanding and adjusted her death grip on his neck into something more comfortable and simply wrapped her legs around his waist for better leverage. Any other time, Ladybug would be freaking out about this development (a _girl_ had her _legs_ around his _waist,_ a girl he might possibly have a crush on, no less!) but they were still very much in danger and he needed to get as far as possible from those hairy demons and protect his partner.

"Bug, land us somewhere," she commanded, her mouth inches from his ear. He nodded stiffly.

Though it was very much an eyesore, the Tour Montparnasse did have its uses, particularly for him. When out flying, he would often use it as a place to land and the view was divine at night. There were usually tourists up there during the day but, for the moment, it was the best option. If they landed outside the railing, the could at least avoid being hounded. And he was sure the spiders would not reach them up there.

He alighted on the rooftop beyond the wall and, of course, the people who had seen him coming were crowding behind the glass. They waved and snapped pictures but Ladybug was far too tense to humor them. Chat Noire climbed off him, smoothing out her skirt, then straightened up and folded her arms. He presented his back to the tourists and she mirrored his stance.

"Sorry I bugged out," he apologized.

"I understand," she assured him with a hint of a smile. "Really, I do. It happens to me, too. We have to go back, though."

"I don't know if I can. You know this isn't something I can just shake."

Chat Noire folded her arms and looked at him thoughtfully. "How long do you think your wings will last?"

Ladybug fluttered them and considered the energy level he could feel within himself. "Maybe…ten minutes?"

"Ten minutes, okay. I have an idea…but you're probably not going to like it."

"Lay it on me."

She was right. He didn't like it.

He was playing bait. Spider bait. It was by far his least favorite plan _ever_. All he had to do was lead the spiders on a merry chase around the block whilst Chat Noire faced down the Arachnidame on her own. He did not like having twelve huge spiders hot on his heels but he liked leaving her alone with the akuma even less. ( _She's a cat_ , he told himself. _Cats kill spiders, she was higher on the food chain. …_ It didn't help.)

It took him exactly three minutes to circle the block with the spiders and only because he had to double back once to get the attention of one of the spiders that had broken off from the pack to lunge at some civilians it found. He could have gone slower to give her more time but he was painfully aware of every second they were apart and he couldn't stand it. It wasn't that he didn't trust her—just the opposite, actually—but he wouldn't be able to live with himself if something happened to her while he wasn't there.

When he got back, Arachnidame was pinned beneath a fallen light pole and Chat Noire stood proudly on top of both, casually bobbing her yo-yo up and down. She waved at him with her free hand he dove down, scooping her up in his arms bridal style, and carried her to the nearest roof.

With a smile and a tap on the top of her yo-yo, she released the akuma so he could purify it. After the Light had done its work and his wings had disappeared, he landed next to her once more. Her tail was flicking happily behind her and his eyes were drawn to it like always, but only for a moment because then she was laughing and her face was much more enjoyable to watch.

"So," she said when her laughter died. "Spiders?"

"Yeah." He folded his arms. "I didn't used to be scared of them, either."

"To be fair, they were the size of dogs. I think most sane people would've had your reaction. If it makes you feel any better, I about jumped out of my skin when a dog barked at me the other day."

"Out of your fur, you mean?"

"Ha ha." She rolled her eyes and her Miraculous let out a beep. She touched her ear briefly. "It's not just spiders, right? There are other things?"

Ladybug nodded. "Bug things. What about you?"

"Cat things."

He grinned, suddenly imagining all the shenanigans he'd seen in cat videos on the internet. His miraculous beeped. "Chasing laser pointers, jumping at cucumbers, knocking cups off the table?"

Chat Noire made a face. "I knocked one of my mom's wall ornaments off the wall." He howled with laughter and she groaned, covering her face with her hands. "You're terrible."

"I…ate…a flower," he told her between laughs.

Her jaw dropped and she gawked at him for a split second and then she was laughing just as hard as he was.

"I drank an entire jug of milk in two days."

"I ran out of the dining room screaming because I saw a spider."

She laughed again and he smiled in relief. Once more she proved herself to be the only one who could truly understand him, at least as far as being a Miraculous wielder went. He took comfort in knowing that despite how bizarre things could get for him there was someone else out there, somewhere in the city, who knew and understood his struggle.

…And now that he knew for sure, he really, really hoped he would catch her in the act of one of these 'cat things.'

* * *

 **I'm on tumblr as wintermoth if anyone wants to follow me. I post excerpts about upcoming chapters sometimes and I'm always willing to talk about ML.**


	7. Chasing Tail - Staring

**Here you are, in honor of the Origins episode, I'm posting this earlier than I'd intended. Read the AN at the bottom for an important note.  
**

 **Blame KryallaOrchid for the title of this.**

* * *

 _Tap, tap, tap_.

He wasn't staring.

 _Tap, tap, tap_.

No, not at all.

He was definitely not staring at the strange black pseudo-appendage protruding from his partner's lower back. He absolutely was not wondering for the twenty-ninth time (this week) what it was made out of. (Not the same material as the rest of her outfit, it looked too soft.) He also certainly was not thinking that it had a mind of its own as the tip of it pattered against the roof.

 _Tap, tap, tap._

Some people tapped their feet when they were thinking. Others drummed their fingers, twisted their lips, or rubbed their chins. Chat Noire flicked her tail. It was a subtle motion, not enough to attract attention, and it certainly wouldn't make any sound if they weren't both perched on the edge of a rooftop.

Did she realize she was doing it? Was it instinctual or intentional? He was almost certain she couldn't feel it. He'd stepped on it a few times and she hadn't reacted other than expressing annoyance. He really wanted to ask her but he wasn't sure he should. They'd only been partners for a few weeks and he didn't want her thinking he was some creep who'd been spending their time together staring at her backside. Especially when he's supposed to be brainstorming for a solution to their latest akuma problem

 _Tap, tap—_

The end of her tail flipped up, curling slightly in excitement. In the same instant, Chat Noire snapped her fingers. "That's it!"

Ladybug blinked and looked up at her face just as Chat turned. "What?" he asked dumbly. _Smooth, Adrien_. At least she hadn't caught him staring.

"The toys, Bug!"

"What about them?"

"Didn't you notice? His toys were old. Handmade."

"Not all of them," he pointed out.

Their current foe called himself Toymaker and was doing a damn good job of living up to his name. He could create demonic toys out of thin air and seize control of any toy around him, creating an annoying, pint-sized army. Honestly, it had been going well enough up until he'd unleashed the Legos. Even through the sturdy soles of his boots, those little monsters _hurt_. Ladybug had fly them outta there because they were ashamedly defenseless against a million Legos underfoot and an army closing in on all sides. The Toymaker had disappeared and now, an hour later, with both kwamis refreshed and at full power, they were trying to figure out where he could've gone.

The only problem was that Toymaker didn't seem to want anything. He wasn't screaming about a wrongdoing or targeting anyone or thing specifically. All he wanted to do was cause havoc and make toys.

"No, no." Chat Noire shook her head. "The toys he was controlling don't count. The ones he was conjuring all looked handmade."

"I…you're right," he realized. Teddy bears, wooden soldiers, Jacob's Ladders, dolls….

Chat Noire nodded. "There's this really old toy store near my—I mean, I used to go there when I was little. It's owned by the same couple who opened it sixty years ago. They have some brand toys but a lot of their stock are one of a kind, things he made by hand. I still have a few somewhere, actually. They're amazing and really good quality."

 _She's so animated_ , Ladybug thought to himself. Her emotions were like an open book. Excitement danced in her blue, feline eyes, her ears stood at attention, and her tail flicked from side to side every few seconds as she spoke.

But then her expression fell and her ears drooped. "…His wife died about a month ago," she added soberly.

Ladybug sucked in a sharp breath. "I see," he said softly. "And you think the Toymaker is the widower."

"I could be wrong," she said. "It's at least worth looking into. Don't you think?"

He nodded. "Lead the way, Chat."

He was getting used to following her, running alongside her, even leading her sometimes because he knew that all he had to do was look over his shoulder and he'd be able to see her right behind him. She would either have a look of concentration or a huge grin on her face, as lost in the thrill as he was. They were getting better at this. The city's rooftops were a chaotic maze, an obstacle course that was never quite the same twice, but it was getting easier to navigate. Familiar routes were being established and their bodies began remembering exactly what to do and when. He was getting stronger and she was getting more graceful, if that was even possible.

The brief hours he spent with her were the best part of his day and, if he was honest, his recent life. He'd never really had friends before—acquaintances, sure, internet friends, yeah, but neither were the same as having someone who he could simply _be_ with. Well, except for Chloe, but Chloe had changed recently and she had never been like Chat Noire. With Chloe there were rules, some unspoken, others not. There were requirements and _acceptable behaviors_ and topics which could never be broached. In all the years he'd known her, she had never even come close to what Chat Noire had become in just a few short weeks.

He couldn't explain it, his vocabulary lacking the words to describe what his masked partner was slowly becoming to him, but he knew he wanted to be around her. He loved her company, he loved hearing her voice, and he loved how _free_ he could be with her. Whether she was his age or not, with her, he could be just a kid. There was no pressure, no family name to uphold, no image to maintain. He was just _Ladybug_.

For this, he could tolerate their masks staying on. Yet more than anything, he wanted to be able to know her as herself. He was sure that he could convince her, one day. Someday.

He would take what he could get in the meantime.

As he followed her across the rooftops, he found his eyes drawn once again to her tail. Unlike an ordinary belt, her tail streamed out behind her as she ran, always held carefully aloft. She was using it for balance, she had to be. It plus the catlike reflexes of her suit allowed her to execute moves he didn't even dare attempt.

Ladybug recognized the change in her posture and knew that she was slowing down, meaning they were almost to their destination. He slowed down to a brisk jog and finally a walk when he saw her stop on the edge of a rooftop. She crouched down, using one hand for balance and the other she rested on her leg. Her tail curled to the side, resting on the edge of the stone.

He stood on the opposite side as her tail lest he accidentally step on it and followed her gaze to a storefront across the street. It was dark inside but he could see a myriad of toys in the display. A sign hung on the inside of the door that said: 'Closed'. The curtains in the apartment above were drawn tight.

"Should we try to go in?" he asked.

Chat Noire shook her head. "Only if we have to. We should probably ask the neighbors first. They might at least know where he is."

"Good idea."

Chat Noire straightened up and pulled her yo-yo from her belt. "I'll take the left, you take the right, and we meet back up here when we're done."

"Sounds like a plan!"

Chat Noire swung away and Ladybug pulled out his staff, extending it, and jumped off the roof. He rotated it over his head like a helicopter blade and it slowed his descent. His knees bent under him as he touched down but otherwise it was a solid landing. He really was getting better. Chat Noire was already disappearing inside the store, a small boutique by the looks of it, and he turned his attention to the shop on the other side of the toy store. And groaned.

It was a small market. The Toymaker's untimely arrival had occurred right in the middle of Adrien's lunch and he'd managed to ignore his anger up until this point. Couldn't _she_ have picked the store with the food?

People had already taken notice of his arrival and he quickly schooled his features. He ignored people who called his name, other than to smile briefly, and walked into the store. He shut the door behind him and glanced over his shoulder, shaking his head slightly at the two people who were trying to follow him in. Their expressions fell but they took the hint.

There was a gasp. "Oh my god. Ladybug?!"

Ladybug turned with a polite smile on his face and lifted his hand in greeting to the woman behind the counter. "Good afternoon, madame."

She was middle-aged, dark-skinned, and so excited he was surprised she wasn't jumping up and down. "What can I do for you?" she asked eagerly.

"Are you aware of the akuma currently on the loose?"

She shook her head. "No, why? Am I in danger?"

"No, not to worry. I don't believe so. Chat Noire and I are trying to puzzle out the motivation behind the akuma's actions in an attempt to locate him. You might be able to help."

"I'll try." She folded her hands on the counter. "What can I do for you?"

"The toystore next door. What do you know of the owner?"

Her expression turned sad. "Up until last month, it was owned by Clement and Francine Royer. Francine passed away of natural causes and poor Clement…"

Ladybug nodded. "I understand. Do you know if anything…stressful happened to him very recently?"

Her eyes widened. "You think it's him."

"We suspect. The akuma goes by the name 'the Toymaker' and he creates an army of toys to do his bidding. Toys like the ones made and sold in the shop next door."

The shopkeeper's expression was guarded as she considered him. Of course she would feel protective of him. No matter how long she had been here, Clement and Francine had always been next door. She probably knew them quite well, was even friends with them. And here Ladybug was, an outsider, implying that a man she undoubtedly felt sympathy for in light of recent events, was a monster bent on overrunning Paris. "That's not a lot to go on," she finally replied.

"No," he agreed. "However, as it is right now, we don't have much else. The akuma has gone to ground and we have to find him. If it is Mr. Royer, then anything you tell me could help." Ladybug took a few steps towards the counter, stopping just shy of touching it. "Madame, we don't want to hurt him and we're not accusing him of anything. Akumas are victims and it's our job to free them. Help me to help him."

The shopkeeper regarded him for another long minute before sighing heavily and nodding. "He comes in every day or so for fresh fruit. Always him, ever since their son moved on. He's always been a fatherly man, even to me and I'm nearly half his age!" Her smile was bittersweet. "Francine, too, she was a lovely woman. Clement loved her more than anything, even his work. The store was their life. Theirs together. The day she died, he closed it and hasn't reopened it since. I don't know what he's doing for income. I've started giving him apples for free. I heard the baker up the road gives him bread for free now, too. He…doesn't look good."

 _Oh crumbs,_ Tikki whispered and Ladybug nearly jumped. _Ask her if something set him off. It's important._

"Was there anything that could have set him off today?" Adrien asked. "Further bad news?"

"I don't know. He didn't come in this morning like I was expecting. I haven't had a chance to go next door and check on him yet. Would you like to?"

"Is there a way inside?" Ladybug asked. "We weren't going to break in unless we had to."

The shopkeeper nodded. "All of the buildings in this stretch have openable skylights. Someone like you should be able to open it with ease from the outside."

He held up his hand and pulled out his baton, activating the communicator. The baker watched, wide-eyed, and her jaw dropped when it began to ring.

Chat's face appeared a few seconds later with the sky as the backdrop. The boutique musn't have been useful. _"What did you find?"_

"The woman here wants us to check in on Mr. Royer next door. She says there's a way in through the roof."

Chat Noire nodded. _"On my way."_ Then she hung up.

Satisfied, he clicked his baton shut. The shopkeeper gaped for a moment longer then pointed at his baton. "I want one of those."

He cracked a grin. "Sorry, one of a kind. Thank you for your help, madame."

She nodded. "You're welcome."

"I'll come back and tell you if he's home. If I don't come back, assume he wasn't."

"Alright."

Ladybug turned to go when all of a sudden, his stomach let out an embarrassingly loud rumble. He winced, glancing at the shopkeeper to see if she'd heard, and knew from the amused expression on her face that she had. "Er…sorry. Hero work doesn't leave much time for lunch."

"Kid, when was the last time you ate?"

"Um…this morning?"

"And I'll bet your partner isn't much better. Grab a couple apples on your way out."

Ladybug selected two of the largest apples he could find, stuffed them in his suit pockets, thanked the woman again, and left the store. People were loitering outside, no doubt waiting to see him when he emerged. He noticed a few people filming or trying to take pictures. He didn't pause to humor them, using his baton to launch himself towards the rooftop, and then disappeared over the side.

Chat Noire was waiting for him a feet away, crouched next to the skylight that must lead into Mr. Royer's home. Her tail, he noticed, was lying flat behind her and her ears stood at attention. She cocked her head to the side curiously. "What do you have there?"

"Lunch," he explained, pulling the apples from his pockets. "Courtesy of the woman below." He tossed one to her and she caught it deftly. "Hope you like apples."

"Love them," she replied. "Thanks." She took a bite out of it and lifted her hand to cover her mouth as she asked, "I take it you had better luck than I did?"

"Maybe." He walked towards her. "She says he hasn't been doing so hot. The shop hasn't been open since his wife died. She and the baker have been giving him free food and she has no idea where his income is coming from."

Chat Noire nodded. "I knew the shop hadn't been open but not the rest. You think it's him, then?"

"I'd say it's a definite possibility," he agreed, lifting the apple to his mouth. "But is grief enough to draw in akuma?"

 _Yes_ , Tikki said immediately and Chat Noire echoed him a moment later. Her kwami must've told her the same.

He bobbed his head to the side in acknowledgement. "Alright." He finally sank his teeth into the apple and exhaled through his nose. It was sweet. Swallowing, he took another bite, and knelt down to have a better look at the skylight. It was clearly openable but there was no immediately obvious way to do so from the outside. No problem. They'd gotten through more secure entrances already.

He glanced at his partner again. She was looking at the skylight, too, a thoughtful expression on her face as she chewed. Her tail still laid flat on the ground and instead her ears were twitching. That was…new. He'd never seen them behave like that before. Sometimes they reacted to loud sounds by flicking or swiveling in the correct direction, they would perk up if she was pleasantly surprised or happy, and they would flatten if she was really angry, but for the most part they remained straight up on her head and mostly or entirely still. He stared, utterly enraptured, and slowly ate his apple.

"Oh no!" Chat Noire blurted out after a full minute of silence, scaring the hell out of Ladybug so much he actually dropped his apple.

"Minou?" he gasped.

She was already working her claws around the edges of the skylight, her own apple clamped firmly in her teeth. There was a creak and she heaved. The skylight raised up like a hatch and he grabbed it, easing it towards the ground. Chat Noire pulled the apple from her mouth, tossed it over her shoulder, swung her legs through the opening, and dropped. Ladybug blinked and then his gaze slid to his forsaken apple. He stared mournfully at his lost snack for a moment.

His partner's voice floated up from below. "Monsieur Royer?"

With an irritated sigh, Ladybug followed her into the apartment. He landed on the floor and straightened up, just in time to see Chat Noire disappear down the stairs at the end of the hall.

"Don't worry, Monsieur Royer!" Chat Noire shouted. "We're coming!"

"Chat!" Ladybug called, chasing after her. "Chat!" He ran down the stairs, peeking over the bannister. "What are you doing?"

"Hurry, Bug!" The urgency in her tone alarmed him and he took the remaining steps two at a time. The second floor of the apartment looked much like the third; small, cramped, with two doors. One was closed, the other open, and he heard Chat Noire's voice from inside the latter.

"Chat?" He called again as he stepped into the doorway. Then he gasped.

Chat Noire knelt over an elderly man who was lying prone on the floor, surrounded by a mess of flour and a few broken eggs. From the looks of things, he must've been baking and taken a tumble. Chat Noire touched his face carefully. "Monsieur Royer," she said loudly. "Monsieur Royer, open your eyes."

Ladybug nearly slid on the flour as he darted over to them. He dropping to his knees, pressed his fingers to Clement Royer's pulse point, and waited. After a few seconds felt the skin flutter beneath his fingertips, a bit weak, but definitely there. He nodded once to Chat.

"Monsieur Royer!" Chat repeated loudly. The man groaned quietly and his eyes blinked open. "Can you hear me? Clement?"

The man gazed up at her blearily for a long moment. " _Vous êtes un ange très sombre._ "

"I'm not an angel," she told him. "I'm Chat Noire. Bug, go get help. He might have a concussion."

Ladybug nodded. "Will you be alright?"

"Don't worry, just go!"

He flew down the stairs so fast he was amazed he didn't trip. He raced through the small toy store that took up the entire bottom floor towards the door at the front. From there it was just a matter of figuring out how to unlock it then running out and yelling for someone to call 112.

Later, when the paramedics had come and gone with Monsieur Royer (a concussion, he'd probably be okay, but he'd been there for a while before they'd found him), the woman who ran the grocery next door had thanked them no less than a dozen times with tears in her eyes, and the two of them had retreated to the rooftops, Ladybug finally was able to point out the silver lining. "At least it wasn't him."

Chat Noire hummed in agreement. "Yeah. …You know, I'm not saying it's right for anyone to be turned into an akuma—but turning someone who's grieving is just _wrong._ "

"I know what you mean. I'd almost feel bad bringing the person back."

She looked at him in surprise. "Really?"

"Well, I mean, think about it. If they were hurting that much, don't you think being an akuma would be a relief? They wouldn't have to feel their grief anymore." Ladybug met her gaze. "It'd almost be a mercy."

She shook her head. "No, I don't think so. I know we haven't seen very many yet but have any of them ever seemed happy to you? Really happy?"

Ladybug shook his head. Wickedly gleeful, yes. Maniacal, yes. Angry and bitter, yes. Happy, no.

"Seems to me, they'd just be trading one negative emotion for the other." Chat reasoned.

"Oh," he murmured. "I didn't think of it like that." He looked back out across the city. It'd been a few hours since they'd began and the sun was progressing steadily towards the western horizon.

Chat Noire let out a long and loud sigh. "I'm glad it wasn't him but we're back to square one again."

He grimaced. He was extremely lucky that this was one of his rare, free afternoons, or he would've been in trouble when he got home. Even still, they needed to hurry and wrap things up. Surely the akuma wouldn't stay hidden for _too_ much longer, right? They were bound to find something out sooner or later.

Ladybug's expression cleared, then, as something occurred to him. "Say…minou?"

"Hmm?" she hummed, sounding distracted.

He looked down at her curiously. She was staring at the cityscape intently. "How exactly did you know he needed help?"

Chat Noire was silent for a moment and then she looked at him with something like smugness on her face. "The same way I know there's an army of toy soldiers marching up the street five blocks away."

Ladybug blinked in surprise, glancing between her and the rooftops stretching out before them. "H-how…?"

A big grin stretched across her face, revealing white teeth and the tiniest hint of a pink tongue peeking out from behind. Blue, catlike eyes crinkled behind her mask and her tail curled upwards behind her back. Then she wiggled her cat ears up and down a few times pointedly and winked.

Oh. _Crap_.

 _She's adorable._

All the air seemed to leave his lungs in a single exhale that she only just missed as she refocused on the point in the distance that had caught her attention. She reached for her yo-yo and flung it at something on the rooftop across the road, completely unaware of her partner having a complete mental failure not even two feet away. She turned again, hip cocked, eyes bright, and tail flicking back and forth.

"You coming, my lady?"

Ladybug nodded, not trusting himself to speak. She swung away and he struggled to swallow past his suddenly dry throat. His heart thudded in his chest.

Crap. Crap, crap, crap.

She was absolutely adorable and, oh, crap he was so _screwed_.

* * *

 **OK SO LET ME SAY STRAIGHT AWAY: I have seen the Origins episode and I am aware that certain parts of this fic no longer work with canon but I don't give two shits. It's an AU. I DO WHAT I WANT. That being said, I am going to accommodate certain aspects of the information from the Origins episode. Nothing major, not yet - don't worry. And there are some (like that thing about Alya) that I am disregarding entirely.**

 **I'm saying this now because THE NEXT CHAPTER WILL REFERENCE EVENTS THAT TAKE PLACE IN THE ORIGINS. It's nothing important, honest, you might not even catch it except in hindsight, but it is from the origins and since I know some people want to avoid any spoilers, I'm telling you now.**


	8. Chasing Tail - Summer Nights

**WARNING HERE THERE BE ORIGINS SPOILERS!** Nothing major but...yeah.

* * *

Adrien was slowly and meticulously compiling a list of things he knew about his partner. He respected her desire to not reveal their identities, as well as the logic behind the decision, but short of knowing who she was, he wanted to know her. She was careful but she'd let little details slip here and there. He knew she had two parents, she liked the shade of pink her collar was, she had no pets, she had gymnastics training, she loved summer, she could speak a little English, and she was an artist.

These little details were mostly insignificant but they helped him solidify her as a person in his mind. It was easy for him to forget, especially at first, when the only times he saw her were their secret rendezvous late at night, just the two of them and the rooftops of their city. She was almost like a dream, a wonderful, beautiful dream conjured by his lonely mind in the longest summer of his life. But after their first fight together, she became very, very real.

Adrien wondered what it was about her that was so alluring. Apart from his little list, he knew almost nothing about her, save her personality as Chat Noire. For all he knew, she was different without her mask—he certainly was. She was pretty, at least the part of her he could see, and she was cute enough to literally take his breath away. If she was like him, though, her physical appearance changed in the transformation.

Maybe it was because she was the only person who knew him as Ladybug or maybe because she was only the second friend he'd had. He'd never been allowed to become acquainted with children of lesser social status and only Chloe Bourgeois had ever bothered to be his friend. It was therefore ironic that his new best friend was lacking a pedigree.

Apart from a few subtle prying questions he'd dropped here and there, the real indicator was her knowledge of the city. They were both native Parisians but he had always kept in a cage while she had clearly been allowed to roam its streets. Chloe had been allowed out but she always used the benefits allowed by her social status. She almost never took the RER or the RATP, never ate anywhere 'common', and her favorite stores had designers only. Chat Noire would sometimes spare a kind word about certain cafes or restaurants they passed. She had vented about the busses and once complained about being late to a movie because she'd missed the metro. Then she'd told him she used to visit the toystore run by the elderly Royer couple and, when he thought back, the store had seemed more like the type that catered to locals rather than tourists.

All in all, the clues painted the picture of an average Parisian girl, definitely not someone his father would ever let him hang out with. But that was the best part! His father _couldn't_ screen and scrutinize her. No one could ever know about her (which was fine because he didn't want to share) but no one could ever take her away from him.

Chat Noire made the summer nights the highlight of his life. He started taking naps during his free time in the day so he could spend hours with her once the sun went down and still wake up early. The days he got to spend with her were almost just as good. Really, it was only the rampaging akuma that put a damper on things, though not by much. It helped that he liked the fighting. It was similar to the enjoyment he got from fencing only amplified. Fencing had strict rules and tactics and provisions in place to keep participants safe. Akuma battles were real in every sense of the word, including the stakes, and the knowledge of that heightened the experience. He relished the thrill of performing daring acrobatics, the banter, the adrenaline rush, and the praise from the citizens in the aftermath. Even more, he enjoyed having a partner. Fencing was a solo sport but when he fought as Ladybug, Chat Noire always had his back and he always had hers. There was no one else he'd rather have at his back.

Was it a bit ironic that he was drawn to the second person his age to ever show him any kind of affection? Probably. But she was just so—so…. He didn't have a word to describe her. The thought of seeing her made him smile and her smile made his heart beat a little faster. He liked looking at her, he enjoyed hearing her voice, and her laughter lit up even the darkest night. He didn't think that was how you felt about a platonic friend, not that he was an expert in such things. He certainly had never felt that way about Chloe.

The playfulness he'd had with her since the beginning evolved into flirting, a development he was unaware of until she called him out on it but by then it was too late to go back. He enjoyed it too much, even when she shot him down, and other than a bit of fluster and annoyance, she seemed okay with it.

She wasn't reciprocating like he wished she would but that was fine. They had only just met and there was plenty of time. For now, he would take what he could get.

 _…Ugh._ Sometimes he wanted to bang his head against the nearest wall. How the heck had this happened? He was falling hard and fast and the whole thing was just baffling to him. Tikki didn't seem too perturbed but she did caution him to guard his heart carefully. As a Miraculous wielder he was immune to akumas but no one was immune to the pain of heartbreak. They could not allow themselves to be divided by his feelings her. He did see the reasoning behind her warning and, as a lover of superheroes, he could think of a number of reasons why being romantically attached to (never mind _involved_ with) a teammate wasn't a good idea. But there were also plenty reasons why it would be. The lists were nearly equal in length.

It was a pickle, all right, and Adrien had no idea what to do about it. He just knew he couldn't stop his heart from doing what it wanted. He would figure out eventually…. Hopefully. In the meantime, he would just enjoy being with her. It was all he could do.

As the best summer of his life progressed merrily along, September began to loom and with it, the prospect of a new school year. Chloe would be beginning her last year of collége and his tutoring would resume. He was not looking forward to it. He wanted to go to school like other kids did. He wanted to be around other children, he wanted more than just one friend, and he wanted to learn what it was like to be a _teenager._ He wanted teachers not tutors, classmates, desks, group projects, and all those other things Chloe liked to complain about.

He told Chloe he wanted to join her at school and she was positively ecstatic about the idea, encouraging him to ask his father. Maybe if he knew Chloe went there then he would feel better about Adrien attending. But Adrien his father would never allow it, even before he asked. Even before he begged and pleaded to attend school, just for a year. A trimester. Anything. As expected, his father shut him down.

Say what you will about Chloe Bourgeois but the girl had a talent for getting what she wanted and she had decided that what Adrien wanted was what she wanted. His father's disapproval was inconsequential to her and Adrien both admired and feared her ability to simply dismiss the verdict of _Gabriel Agreste_ as if he were nothing more than an annoying fly. If Adrien wanted to go to school, then she vowed to see to it that he would.

He told her he'd think about it.

It was a huge risk. He had no doubt Chloe could get him enrolled in school if she said she could but actually attending would be a different matter altogether. He would actually have to sneak out, for one, and the more he thought about it, the more implausible the whole thing seemed.

Adrien considered asking Chat Noire for her opinion on what to do but this was something personal, perhaps too personal, and she probably wouldn't appreciate him trying to bring his civilian life to the table like that.

In the end, he deiced that he wanted to try school at least once, even if he only got one day before he was dragged back home and summarily grounded for the rest of his childhood.

The following morning, he gave Chloe the green light and she went to town. Next thing he knew, she was presenting him with papers showing his enrollment in le Collége Francois Dupont, a list of school supplies he'd need, and his textbooks. He hid the textbooks amongst the others in his bookshelves. There were only two things on the list that he didn't have and Chloe quickly procured them for him. They were then hidden at the bottom of his desk drawers.

As September and school drew steadily closer, however, he began to realize that these weeks of bliss with his partner were coming to an end. With school standing to take up a good portion of his day, plus homework, fencing, and photoshoots, his free time would soon dwindle down to almost nonexistence. He wouldn't be able to nap easily and spend hours and hours out every night. If he was right and she was close to his age then she, too, would soon find herself more occupied than before.

Neither of them said anything about it, though. Their nightly or every-other nightly jaunts continued as normal and with each passing metting, he felt himself falling a little more in love. What was he going to do? The thought of losing this precious time with her made his stomach flip horribly. He didn't want their encounters to be limited to just battles but he knew that things could not continue as they were.

He was a little surprised Chat Noire hadn't hinted at anything yet. Was she planning to just stop showing up at night without explanation? Were they _really_ going to be keeping their civilian identities that far apart? Of course it could be something completely different. She could be homeschooled. Perhaps she was older than him and assumed he was out of school, too, because who would expect _children_ to be the superheroes of Paris? Either way, it seemed like it was going to be up to him to bring up the topic, somehow.

* * *

 **Yeah, it's short, but there will be another one soon. :)**


	9. Chasing Tail - Jouer á Chat

**Well...here we are. Day 1 into the wait for season 2. I'm...okay. Mad AF at certain parts of the finale...but I'm okay. For now.**

* * *

Ladybug arrived at their meeting place a little later than usual (entirely due to the fact he'd spent a few minutes psyching himself up before leaving his room) and found her already waiting for him. She crouched on top of the pink chimney, her tail dangling down behind her, flicking from side to side a little more forcefully than usual. He grimaced, wondering if that meant she was angry. She hadn't turned when he landed but her ears swiveled towards him so he knew that she knew he was there. She just wasn't acknowledging him.

Her tail lashed to the side and his eyes followed it automatically, which was how he came to notice that she wasn't alone.

The skinny calico bounded after the tail and pounced, only to realize that it had missed its prey by a mere second. Chat Noire's tail dangled overhead, just out of its line of sigh, and the calico whipped its head back and forth, searching. She lowered her tail enough to tap the cat's head and it looked up sharply, trying to bite it. Chat Noire's tail went gliding away again and the calico tore off after it.

 _Oh my god._ She was using her tail to play with the cat! Ladybug laughed out loud and the poor calico sprang backwards in alarm. It stared at him, green eyes wide, and back stiff.

Chat Noire sighed, finally turning to look at him. "Nice going, Bug."

She carefully climbed down and scooped the calico up in her arms. It mewled and wriggled in her arms until it was more comfortable, then its green orbs fixed on him again apprehensively. Chat Noire scratched its ears affectionately and cooed softly at it. When the cat meowed back half a second later Ladybug just about lost it.

She was a cat person. Of _course_ she was a cat person.

"I-I didn't know you had a cat," he stammered.

"I don't, actually," Chat Noire said. "This little guy wandered over right about when I got here. He's very friendly. Wanna pet him?"

"Sure." Ladybug walked towards them but when he got close, the cat narrowed his eyes and growled softly in its chest. Ladybug stopped dead.

"Hey," Chat protested with a frown. She tapped the cat lightly on the nose, cutting off the growl. "Stop that. There's nothing to be scared of."

The cat huffed and looked away from him, very pointedly in Ladybug's opinion. Chat Noire sighed and gave him an apologetic look. He carefully ran his hand along the cat's back, starting at the top of his head and ending at the base of his tail. And again. Chat Noire resumed her ear scratches and within a few short seconds, a tell-tale rumble began to build in the cat's throat.

"There," she crooned. "That's a good boy. See? He's a nice person."

The cat purred louder in response.

"If I didn't know any better, minou," Ladybug began slyly, "I'd say he could understand you."

She shrugged her shoulders.

"That's quite an interesting _paw_ er," he went on, ignoring the look she shot him. "Cat whisperer. Not sure how it'd be useful in combat, though, unless we get a mouse akuma. Or a bird akuma."

"You do know cats chase bugs, too, right?"

He leaned closer, smirking. His hand stilled on the cat's back. "Planning on chasing me, minou?"

She narrowed her eyes but her ears remained upright. "I might if you keep that up."

They stared at each other for a moment and he felt his smirk turning smug and she seemed torn between maintaining her scowl and grinning. She broke eye contact first, giving the cat one more rub, and set it down on the ground. Then she poked him quite firmly in the shoulder. Ladybug rocked back in surprise. A grin of utter mischief spread across her face and she took a single step back.

"You're it."

Then she was gone and Ladybug was still trying to understand what she meant. He watched her flee, glancing over her shoulder at him, and then he got it.

 _Tag, you're it_.

Ladybug laughed out loud and raced after her.

When they first began, when they were still unsure of themselves and their duty, she had been as playful as he was but after a few akuma battles, the initial euphoria of being a superhero had faded for her and she revealed herself to be a serious, dedicated hero and a natural leader. They had never discussed it, he simply chose to defer to her since she seemed to have a knack for thinking on her feet and he, the good son and model, was used to taking direction and adapting quickly. He let her set the patrol routes. In battle, he looked to her for direction. She hadn't let him down yet.

He understood the necessity of the change in her, which was why he took it upon himself to remain playful. One of them needed to be. But any opportunity to see her with her guard down was precious which was why he thoroughly enjoyed their games. Sometimes they would simply chase each other, sometimes it was more of a game of hide and seek, but it always resulted in plenty of Chat smiles and laughs which he echoed.

 _I'm going to miss this_ , he thought to himself as he flipped over a chimney. The thought was sobering and his eyes flicked to her form several yards ahead of him. (She was running upright which told him she was planning on letting him catch her. If she went down on all fours then it was _on_.) He didn't want to give up his nights with her but if Chloe's insane plan worked, then it was going to be hell trying to juggle school, his extracurriculars, and whatever modeling gigs his father had him do, never mind being a masked superhero on top of that.

If only they could meet as their civilian selves. They could hang out or at least text each other throughout the day. It would make up for not being able to see her as much in the future. But she wouldn't go for it and he knew it so he wasn't even going to bother asking. He didn't want to make her uncomfortable or pressure her. One day, hopefully, but it would be on her terms.

"Tired already?" she taunted and he realized he'd slowed down.

A wicked grin flashed across his face and he picked up speed, lunging at her with a powerful jump. She shrieked a laugh and dropped onto all fours to give herself the burst of speed necessary to escape him. It was on.

He was briefly tempted to bring out his wings but that was almost cheating and he preferred catching her this way. And he would, eventually. Either she'd slip up or he would outwit her but sooner or later, the cat would be in the bag.

Later, when they were exhausted from having run around the entirety central Paris at least once, they collapsed in a small place were sloped rooftops met and waited for their panting to stop and their hearts to slow. Chat's cheeks were flushed from exertion, her blue eyes gleamed the gloom, her lips curled into a smile despite everything else. Paris buzzed with life and beauty around them but in his eyes, even like this, she outshined even the Eiffel Tower.

She caught him looking and nudged his leg with her boot, flashing him her brightest smile, accompanied by a giggle of delight.

His breathing hitched. God, was she even real?

Her smile faded a little. "You okay?"

 _No. I'm falling in love with you and I have no idea what to do._ "Yeah! Fine. Just tired from that."

She laughed again and nudged his leg with her foot. "And we still have to get home."

That wouldn't be a problem. From the size of the Eiffel Tower, he was only maybe a ten minute jog from his house. He was more concerned about her; she could have to go all the way to the 19th arrondissement for all he knew.

"Oh well," he said. "I didn't hear any screaming, my guess is there were no akuma."

She hummed in agreement and rested her head against the rooftop again. She stared at the sky and he stared at her and wondered how to tell her. He didn't want to lose time with her but he wanted school just as badly…maybe even more. On the off-chance Chloe's crazy plan worked, he needed Chat to be prepared. He had to tell her tonight. Before she left. Preferably now. Now, now, before he lost his nerve—

"Ladybug?" she blurted out at the same time he said, "Hey, Chat?"

He blinked and craned his neck. They gawked at each other for a moment. "You first," he told her.

Chat Noire nodded. "Okay, um. I've got something I need to tell you."

"I'm listening."

She exhaled loudly. "I don't know if you are but…I'm still young enough to be a student…and school starts for me in a few weeks. So, um…this…us every night…it's not going to work much longer."

Ladybug blinked rapidly. "You're kidding me," he blurted out. She flinched and looked away, which quickly had him backpedaling. "Wait, no. Sorry. I didn't mean it like that. I just—I was going to tell you the same thing.

Her head whipped around. "Seriously?"

He nodded. "Yeah! School, two weeks, can't be up every night. The whole thing."

Chat Noire grinned and laughed again, smacking her hands against the roof. "Oh my God. Oh my God. I've been trying to tell you all week and this whole time—wow. I guess that makes this a lot easier."

"Loads," he agreed with a relieved exhale. "Lucky us."

"So how's this going to work, then? Patrols every other night together or we alternate nights so there's always one of out."

Ladybug considered it for a minute. "I like that second one, as long as we can still meetup on the weekends."

"Deal. But I am not doing Sundays. That's all on you, Bug."

"Why?" he asked, genuinely curious.

Chat Noire scowled and her ears turned backwards. "Mondays," she growled as if the mere concept was a personal offense of the highest order. "Are bad enough when I've had a full night's sleep."

The look of utter loathing on her face alone might have been enough for him to accept her condition without further questioning. He knew he had missed out on plenty of things being a homeschooled kid all his life but…surely Mondays couldn't be _that_ bad?

…Right?

…But just in case…

"How about neither of us do Sunday so we can be well rested for the week?" he proposed.

Chat readily agreed. Patrolling was mostly cautionary and more of a chance to hang out and learn together, if they were both being honest. One night off wouldn't be a crime. They decided to patrol Fridays or Saturdays together, maybe both, but the rest of the week they would figure out once school had started and they were sure what their schedules would be.

He went home feeling much lighter than he had when he set out. Not only had that gone far better than he'd anticipated, but he had another precious detail about his _minou_ to add to his list. She was close to his age. She could possibly be a university student but she had all but admitted to not knowing her schedule and he was pretty sure university students knew about those well in advance. So she was likely a _Lycée_ student at most and if she was younger than him, he highly doubted it was by more than a year.

When he arrived back in his room, Adrien de-transformed and went to fetch cookies for Tikki from the stash he kept. The red kwami wasn't too tired since she hadn't been called upon to use her powers but Adrien made a habit of making sure she was fed after every transformation.

"That went well," Tikki chirped. "I told you had nothing to worry about."

"Did you know she was a student?" he asked. He knelt down by his drawer where he kept the cookies and pulled it open.

Tikki shrugged noncommittally. "I had my suspicions. Plagg and I are meant to work together and humans tend to work better with people in their age-group. Anything else would lead to a power difference, especially since you're a teenager."

Adrien paused in his rummaging and glanced at the kwami on his shoulder. "I guess that makes sense," he replied after a moment. Then he pulled a sugar cookie out of the bag and handed it to her.

He left her to her meal and went to shower. When he emerged from his bathroom, dressed in his pajamas, Tikki was sitting on the desk and reading something on his computer screen. Rubbing his hair with the towel, he went around to have a look at what had captured her attention and saw, to his surprise, that she was reading the Ladyblog. The fanblog had caught their attention a few weeks ago after Chat Noire had grumbled about that 'darn blog' having pictures of them and he'd decided to investigate. Upon discovering it, he'd been flattered.

It was run by some girl named Alya who was strangely dedicated to her work and alarmingly persistent in her efforts to get photos and interviews with them. Just the other day she had come running over to them after a battle to beg for an interview. He was going to deny her request on principle but Chat Noire had promptly hissed in annoyance and leaped to the rooftops, with Ladybug right on her heels. They agreed no interviews before parting ways.

Adrien was quickly becoming convinced that Alya was some sort of mastermind hacker or at least an army of followers. How else did the girl always seem to know where and when things were going down? How else could she _already_ have pictures of their escapades from this evening? There were at least half a dozen pictures of them, some from the street and others from windows, from different parts of Paris, of the two of them playing tag. Most of them weren't high quality.

 _Important Mission or Intense Game of Tag?_

 _Paris' superheroes were spotted tonight all across the city, seemingly in pursuit of something. Or perhaps each other? Did Paris just bear witness to its largest game of tag ever? Considering there were no reports of any akuma, I think it may have!_

Adrien grabbed the mouse, guided the cursor to his favorite picture of the bunch—Chat Noire was mid-leap and he had his hand out to tag her, their exuberant expressions clearly visible—and saved it to his computer. While it was saving, he yawned loudly.

"You should get some sleep," Tikki advised. "You have that photoshoot in the park in…" she checked the clock on the screen, "eight hours."

Adrien groaned.

"You forgot, didn't you?"

" _Ouais._ "

"Don't worry. Just as long as you remember to smile, you'll be okay."

That brought a smile to his face and he gently rubbed the top of Tikki's smooth head. "Thanks, Tikki."

* * *

 ** _Jouer á chat_ is the name for "tag" in French. It also makes a relevant pun.**


	10. Storm Warning - Éclair

**"DAMN MOON BACK AT IT AGAIN WITH THE EPISODE REWRITES!" - one of my Doctor Who readers, probably.**

 **Here we go ladies and gentlecats. Those of you who haven't read my Doctor Who series (which I'm guessing is 99% of you) should know that episode rewrites are my specialty. The first of many episodes I'll be rewriting for this powerswap verse. Why? Because I want to and because there is no way for them to progress the same way as they did in canon. It simply won't work. So from here on out, this series will be a combination of original plots as well as re-writes.**

 **Also, I'll be using a combination of French dub and English dub dialogue depending on availability and personal preference of lines.**

* * *

Marinette was known by her family and friends for being extremely helpful. A go-to girl for all sorts of things. Sometimes bizarre things. Most of them thought it was because she was a kind and helpful girl, which she was. She also was a people-pleaser who had trouble saying 'no' when under pressure. …Fortunately for her, Plagg was none of the above.

So when her mother's friend asked her to watch Manon for the day, Plagg growled in Marinette's ear that under absolutely no circumstances was she to babysit the child. He would not spend his day hiding from a hyperactive five year old. Absolutely not. _Grow a backbone, kid, and figure a way out of it._ It was still summer vacation so she couldn't cite homework. Then her eyes fell on the summer dress and hat combo she had been unable to work on for the last week and found her excuse. There was some disappointment and Sabine tried to persuade Marinette to work whilst watching Manon, but Manon's mother laughed in understanding and reassured Marinette that she knew that would be nigh on impossible.

Just like that, Marinette had the whole day to herself.

It was nice and warm so she opened her windows to let the air in. Plagg turned on the TV to watch cartoons ("One of the finest inventions of the 20th century, I'll have you know.") and she provided him a block of mozzarella to gorge himself on so he wouldn't heckle her while she was working. In that respect, at least, Plagg was a simple creature.

The dress was sleeveless, made from a white material with pink polkadots, that gathered at the waist and had a pleated skirt. It was already sewn, she just needed to add the matching pink accents to the sleeves and the hem of the skirt and it would be finished. After that, she could add the finishing touches to the hat and then the whole outfit would be complete! Now that she had the day to herself, she would certainly be finished by that evening.

As the host of bad luck incarnate, she should have known better.

Around lunch time, several hours into her work, Plagg started bugging her for her phone so he could vote for the new Kids+ Weather Girl. Marinette didn't much care about the competition, although she recognized one of the finalists from her school last year, but Plagg had been surprisingly intrigued.

"Humans have contests to see who gets to tell them what the weather's gonna be?" he'd asked scathingly only to be engrossed in the competition an hour later.

She lasted through two solid minutes of him pestering her, including a threat to turn off her sewing machine mid-stitch, before he unleashed the most adorable kitten eyes she had ever seen and it was all over. "Who are you going to vote for?" Marinette asked, tapping in the password, and relinquished her phone.

"Aurore," Plagg replied without hesitation. "She's obviously the better choice."

"How so?"

"Easy. She knows her stuff, she's confident, she has an excellent stage presence. The other girl is far too silly when she's presenting and too timid when she isn't." Plagg said matter of factly as he typed away on the screen with his paws.

So, of course, the other girl won in a landslide. Plagg howled in protest, threw cheese at the screen, belittled the establishment, and insulted the tastes of the Parisian youth. Marinette laughed so hard she had to turn off her sewing machine before she hurt herself. Plagg switched the TV off in a huff, floated over to Marinette, and perched on her shoulder to watch her work.

"Polka dots," he lamented for the fifth time since she'd first designed the dress. "Why did I choose the girl with Tikki's sense in fashion to be my cat?"

"If I recall, you said something about having an inner kitty and being crafty. Among other things."

"True. But… _polka dots…_ ugh."

"Oh hush," she admonished and switched her sewing machine back on. "Don't criticize my tastes just because yours are unpopular."

Plagg shoved at her cheek with his paw and _harrumphed_ quietly.

Marinette turned some music on her phone to fill the space and went back to work. For a short time, the only sounds in the room were the gentle notes coming from her phone, the steady thrumming of the machine, and the ambience of the city filtering in through her open windows. She was glad Plagg had talked her out of babysitting. She really needed this time for herself. God knows she won't have it in two weeks. This would likely be her last project of the summer unless she suddenly got inspired to make something really simple.

The last month and a half had been almost like a dream or a…well, not a fairytale, but definitely otherworldly. Her double life truly felt like just that: two separate lives. The days were Marinette's and the nights were Chat Noire's, akuma attacks notwithstanding. She had no responsibilities but those of Chat Noire and the occasional ones imposed on her by her parents. With school coming, though, she would have obligations and a schedule and Chat Noire would have to give some of her nights back to Marinette and vice versa. She wasn't entirely sure how she felt about that.

She was drawn out of her thoughts by Plagg suddenly leaping into the air. "Marinette, turn that infernal thing off for a moment."

The urgency in his tone prompted her to obey immediately. Sewing machine stopped, music paused, they waited in silence for a long moment. And then the telltale screams of terror reached her ears.

Plagg let out a long, whiney meow and his tail drooped. Marinette sighed and cast her dress a forlorn look. So much for that, then.

"You know, we don't _have_ to go," Plagg told her.

Marinette scoffed. "And leave Ladybug to deal with it alone? No!"

"It's not like he _can't_ ," the kwami grumbled.

"Not a chance. _Transforme-moi!"_

Plagg disappeared into the ring with another whine. Her suit rushed over her skin and her body flowed with it. When the magic settled, she shook herself quickly to adjust to the sudden shift in herself—the addition of her ears and tail, as well as the extrasensory inputs provided by them, took a moment to get used to—then she leaped onto her bed. Out her trapdoor and onto the balcony.

With her enhanced hearing, Chat Noire was able to pinpoint the exact direction the screams were coming from. The park! She tossed her yo-yo in the right direction, waited until it hooked on something sturdy, and tugged. Sailing through the air, she landed on the rooftop across the street, hooked her yo-yo to her belt, and then began scanning the area. The akuma couldn't have gotten very far, not when there were plenty of people to terrorize. She could still hear screams of panic nearby and something that sounded like bursts of energy. The latter cut off quite abruptly and the screaming grew fainter.

Chat Noire frowned in confusion. What happened?

She got her answer about ten seconds later when Ladybug suddenly went hurtling through the air on a huge gust of wind with his wings nowhere in sight and screaming at the top of his lungs. She sighed and chased after him, arriving in time to see him sprawled out on the street. She heard his groan, pain mixed with annoyance, and giggled, knowing he was okay. She'd already seen him take worse falls and walk away just fine. Perks of being a Miraculous wielder.

Chat Noire jumped down from the low rooftop and ran towards him. "Nice landing, Bug." She held out her hand to him. "At this rate, you might be able to stick one by the time you're thirty."

He rolled his eyes, accepting the hand, and she hauled him to his feet. "Thanks, mon minou. I try my best." With a devilish smirk, he bent to kiss the hand he still held in greeting, but she pulled it away before his lips had even properly made contact and pushed him back by his nose.

"Ah, ah. Not the time, Buggy. But you're welcome."

He frowned, rubbing his nose, but didn't get a chance to reply. Chat heard the wind pick up and turned to see the akuma descend just a precarious few meters away. She was humanoid and really young, probably not much older than Chat. Her hair was two-toned purple, bound in swirly pigtails. She was pale, with a prominent blush on her cheeks, gray eyes, and a deep purple mask with jagged designs on the edges. She wore a short dress, also purple, with white gloves and boots, and in her hand she clutched an umbrella.

She smirked at the two heroes. "We should be expecting lightning storms like _RIGHT NOW_!" With that, she raised her umbrella high over her head and pink lightning shot out of the tip into the sky.

Thunder rumbled overhead and the white, fluffy clouds morphed into thick gray masses that obscured the sun entirely. Chat felt her skin prickle at the sudden change of atmospheric pressure and her ears flattened. Lightning crackled through the clouds and a bolt flashed overhead, racing towards them. Both heroes screamed and Chat threw herself at Ladybug, seizing him by the waist, and leaped out of the way.

They hit the ground awkwardly and rolled for several feet until they came to a stop with him on top. He gasped and quickly propped himself up on his hands. Ladybug blinked and gave her a nervous toothy grin. Chat frowned and turned his head towards the akuma. He scowled and pushed himself to his feet.

"Oh, it's _on_ now," he growled as Chat Noire picked herself up. Before she could stop him, he charged forward.

The akuma grinned and brandished her umbrella. "Black ice!" Blue light shot from the tip of her umbrella and coated the ground in a sheet of ice that stretched towards them. Chat tensed as it extended under her feet and

Ladybug yelped as his feet slid across the ice but managed to stay upright, at least until the akuma flung a huge gust of wind at him. It was strong enough to knock him, along with half the cars on the street flying. Chat brought her hands up to protect herself and yowled when the wind hit her. She went sliding backwards and reached for her yo-yo. Spotting a light pole just a few feet away, she flung her yo-yo at it and it wrapped around the structure securely not even a full second before her feet left the ground. The string snapped taught but didn't break under the force, not even when Ladybug snagged her tail as he went flying by. Chat yelped at the strange sensation, ears flattening against her head, and resolved to pinch his wings later to remind him that just because it wasn't a physical part of her, didn't mean she couldn't _feel_ that, thank you very much.

The gust ended abruptly a few seconds later and Chat was so surprised that she let go of her yo-yo string. Catlike reflexes failed her utterly in that moment and she face-planted.

Groaning, she lifted her head blearily. The akuma seemed to have decided they were no longer worth the bother because she was already flying away from them, wind swirling around her in a violent circle that knocked everything in its path away, regardless of size.

"Aren't cats supposed to land on their feet?" Ladybug teased from behind her.

"Don't you even start," she grumbled and sprang onto all fours. He chuckled behind her and she ignored him, straightening up. She went to free her yo-yo from the light post and when she turned around, Ladybug was still in the ground, rubbing his shoulder with a sour look.

"What are you doing?!" she demanded, gesturing over her shoulder to the akuma who was rounding the corner up the road. "She's getting away!"

"Just give me a second. It's not like she's going to be hard to track."

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"Just strained it a bit, I think. I'll be fine, don't worry," he assured her and jumped to his feet.

They used their respective weapons to get to the rooftops and headed in the direction the akuma had gone.

"Did you manage to catch her name?" Chat asked as they ran. "Motive? Anything?"

"Her name is Stormy Weather," he reported, "but as for motive, your guess is as good as mine."

They spotted her gliding up the road, knocking cars away like they were nothing but toys with the wind around her. They jumped from the rooftops. Chat Noire landed in a crouch and Ladybug touched down just a few feet ahead of her.

Rolling his shoulders, he flexed his hands and growled, "A little Ladybug will take the wind out of her sails!"

Chat Noire knew what he was going to do before he did it and she sprang, landing on his back before he could make it more than a few feet. He stumbled under her weight, arms going up instinctively to brace her legs which were wrapped around his waist.

"Whoa there, Buggy," she chided.

"What the—"

"You go buzzing in there and you'll just get swatted again."

She pushed against his shoulders and he released her legs. She dropped to the ground and he turned. "You got a plan?"

Chat Noire put her hand on her hip and cocked it. "Just follow my lead," she instructed with a wink.

Sprinting off, she leaped at the nearest building and began to run across the side, perpendicular to the ground. It was a trick they had discovered quite by accident one night and they had learned the hard way that it wasn't something they could keep up for very long, but somehow they were able to defy physics and pull it off. Chat Noire pulled her yo-yo from her belt and spun it over her head, leaping from the wall. Across the street, Ladybug did the same.

Stormy Weather either heard or sensed them coming because she turned even before either of them let out a battle cry. By then, it was already too late for Chat to alter her course and when Stormy Weather hurled the words, "Not you again!" accompanied by another powerful gust of wind, there was nothing she could do.

The two heroes screamed as they were blown through the air across the span of several blocks, along with no less than a dozen vehicles. Luck, instinct, skill, or some combination of all three allowed both of them to stick their landings without more than unavoidable jolts of pain, but there wasn't time to even worry about that, because the vehicles were only seconds behind them. Chat Noire threw herself to the right out of the first car's path. She landed on all fours and bounded forward, another car landing just behind her. Rebounding off a shop front, she dove forward to avoid a car sailing over her head, leaped over another, then skidded across the street and narrowly avoided being hit by two more.

Pushing off an overturned car, she vaulted over the last of the cars flying her way, and landed in the street next to her partner. She looked in the direction they'd come and gasped at the sight of a _bus_ coming straight at them. Ladybug was frozen, staring wide-eyed and horrified at their oncoming doom. For the second time that day, Chat Noire leaped at him. She wrapped her arms around his waist and scooped him effortlessly off the ground, leaping towards the sidewalk.

 _Make it, make it, make it—!_

She landed on the sidewalk a split second before the bus crashed behind them, the shock of the impact shaking the ground and knocking her off her feet. The two heroes landed in a tangled heap on the ground, both of them gasping and too shocked to even comment on the potentially intimate position they'd found themselves in. Ladybug raised his head and Chat followed suit a moment after, both of them staring at the bus with wide eyes.

Ladybug swallowed loudly and his arms tightened around Chat Noire's shoulder. "This really blows," he deadpanned.

Chat Noire scoffed. She looked at her partner to tell him off and was startled by how close his face was to hers. And, oh, their legs were tangled together and they were holding each other and— Chat ducked her head before he could see her flush and pulled out of his grip. He let her go without protest and sat up.

"So," he said, all business. "It's a pissed off purple chick who likes messing with the weather and blasting everything in sight."

"And has no interest in fighting us unless we attack her," Chat Noire added.

Ladybug jumped to his feet and offered his hand to help her up. She pretended not to notice the concern in his eyes or the way they swept over her. "Speaking of which, is it just me or is it getting colder?"

Chat Noire paused and took a moment to consider this. Her suit and adrenaline were keeping her at a decent temperature but now that he mentioned it, her cheeks were beginning to feel cold. She looked up at the sky. The clouds, which were gray before, had darkened considerably.

Her cat ears flicked backwards in annoyance. "Now what is she doing? We have to hurry."

Ladybug nodded once and they took off down the street. Normally, rooftops were their go-to when they needed to get around but they both seemed to have to come to the same conclusion: so long as Stormy Weather was unaccounted for, they couldn't take the chance of being so far off the ground in case she attacked. Given enough time and measure of control, they could land safely from alarming heights, but if she managed to send them flying off the rooftops without warning, they could take some serious damage.

The reached the street where they'd last faced her in almost no time but Chat could tell instantly that the akuma was long gone. People were watching from storefronts and one brave (or foolish) individual had decided to venture outside. Parisians were adapting quickly to the presence of akumas but as a whole were still timid enough to not come out until they were sure the coast was clear. Spotting Ladybug and Chat Noire, the person quickly darted back into the safety of the shop.

"Any ideas on this one, minou?" Ladybubg asked.

"Maybe she has some unresolved anger issues?" she suggested.

Ladybug eyed the overturned cars on either side of the road. "Or she didn't pass her driving test."

Chat Noire shivered as a gust of wind blew past her, not strong enough to be from Stormy herself.

"Still!" he added. "She kinda looks familiar. Don't know from where, though."

Chat frowned. Did that mean Ladybug possibly knew the girl underneath or was she a famous face? Chat hadn't had the chance to look at face properly yet and what she'd managed to see wasn't very distinctive. Any distinguishing features had been disguised, anyway.

"I'll take your word for it," she replied after a moment.

" _Hello, viewers!"_ Stormy Weather's voice came out of nowhere to their left, followed by an electrical crackle. Both heroes stopped and turned, expecting to see the akuma, but instead they were greeted with the sight of her face sneering at them from a shattered monitor above the sidewalk.

" _Here's the latest forecast for the hottest week of the summer."_ She backed away from the camera and turned to observe a map of Europe behind her. She looked confident up there, like she knew exactly what she was doing. And according to the lower-third, she was broadcasting on the Kids+ Channel.

Zooming in, France was brought to the forefront. Stormy Weather touched her cheek. _"Looks like mother nature had a change in plans._ " She slammed her umbrella against the image and a large snowflake appeared over France. _"Summer vacation is officially over!"_

As she said this, Chat Noire noticed snowflakes beginning to drift towards the ground. Disgruntled, controlled the weather, acting as a weathergirl on the Kids+ channel….

 _The weathergirl contest!_

"Aw, really?" Ladybug protested, hands on his hips. "But I look so good in a swimsuit!"

Chat whipped her head towards him in surprise. He grinned slyly at her, chuckling as he wagged his eyebrows.

"Good to know, Bug. Now focus."

"On what?"

She pointed at the screen. "Look. See the logo? She's at the TV station."

"Oh!" Ladybug turned in a quick circle, scanning the area. "I think I know how to get there from here."

"Lead on, Bug."


	11. Storm Warning - Neige

**I'M LATE I AM SO LATE I TOTALLY FORGOT TO UPDATE THIS UGH**

* * *

In the time it took them to reach the TV station, the light snow had turned into an all-out blizzard, the likes of which Paris was not used to. Both of their cheeks were tinged red from exertion and the cold and Chat Noire wasted no time in teasing Ladybug for matching his mask. He, of course, quick retaliated by pointing out the way her cat ears were going haywire from all the snow landing on them, and Chat finally just forced them to lie flat against her head.

The temperature had plummeted to somewhere between freezing and bitter cold. They were both beginning to shiver. The people of Paris seemed to be in a state of shock but Chat thought they were handling it well. And by 'well' she meant that only a few were panicking. She wasn't including those who were obviously tourists in that number.

It took them longer than it should have, in Chat's opinion, even with Ladybug leading them on a direct route, but they weren't going up to the rooftops in the middle of a budding blizzard. She was afraid Stormy Weather would be gone by the time they got there but, lo and behold, when they entered the TV station, not only had it been abandoned by its staff, but the akumatized girl was still lording over screens.

"Hey!" Ladybug cried suddenly, skidding to a halt next to a life-size cutout of Aurore Boreal, the girl Plagg had wanted to win the Kids+ Weatherkid contest. "That girl reminds me of someone!"

Chat's eyes flicked from the girl on the poster to the akuma on the large flatscreen hanging from the wall. _"_ I knew it," she hissed. Ladybug followed her gaze. "Five euros says the akuma's in her parasol."

"That's a sucker's bet," Ladybug retorted and motioned for her to follow.

Chat didn't ask how Ladybug knew which floor the studios were on, just followed him silently up the stairs. From there, they were able to pinpoint which studio she was in from the signs and the loud humming of the studio lights that Chat's ears could detect. Meanwhile, the akuma seemed to follow them through the halls, her face taunting them on every screen, her voice cackling from every speaker.

The doors to the studio were locked, no surprise, and with a glance at each other, Chat Noire and Ladybug backed up several paces.

" _In Stormy Weather's world, it's winter wonderland FOREVER!"_

With a running start, the two of them leaped into the air and kicked the double doors open. They ran into the studio, ready to take on Stormy Weather, only to be greeted with an empty studio. They both gasped and Stormy Weather laughed at them through the speakers yet again.

"It was a recording!" Chat realized. They'd been played.

Stormy Weather laughed again and this time it was real. They both turned to see the girl herself standing in the doorway of the studio's secondary exit. With a sneer, she aimed her parasol and shot a bolt of lightning at the lighting rigs above their heads.

Chat Noire yelped and dove out of the way. She heard the equipment burst as it collided with the ground, its pieces scattering every which way. She landed on all fours and a growl rumbled in her chest. A moment later, the room went dark. Chat Noire blinked as her mask abruptly went to night vision mode. She could normally see very well in the dark but in instances of pitch black, her night vision would automatically kick in. She sprang to her feet and spun around when she heard Stormy Weather cackle again.

She turned and fled the room, leaving the two heroes behind. Ladybug got unsteadily to his feet, seemingly unbothered by this development.

Chat Noire growled again. "She's getting away! Come on!"

Ladybug turned at the sound of her voice and stumbled blindly towards her, hands outstretched. "Unfortunately, this bug can't see in the dark. Wanna lend me a paw, here?"

"Uh. Right. Sorry—watch out for the—!"

 _CLANG_

 _THUD_

"Ow…"

"—light," she finished weakly.

"Thanks," he muttered.

Chat Noire grabbed his hand and hauled him to his feet. "I got you," she assured him. "Now let's go!"

Ladybug yelped when she pulled on his arm but he kept up well enough once they got going. She gave a warning when they had to turn but otherwise she kept her ears pealed for the sound of Stormy Weather's laugh. Chat spotted her when they rounded the corner for a second time. With a laugh, the akuma ran through another door. Chat growled and put on a burst of speed. They followed her up the stairway, Chat slamming them both to the ground when she hurled a fire extinguisher at them, and out of the topmost door onto the rooftop.

As one of the taller buildings in Paris, the TV station's rooftop loomed over those around it. One side was blocked by billboards, the other by nothing but a ledge and a steep drop. For the heroes, there was no easy way to escape it except through the door they had just emerged from. It occurred to Chat Noir a split second after the door slammed shut behind them that this might have been a mistake. After all, Stormy Weather's plan thus far had involved luring them from one place to the next.

The akumatized girl floated high above their heads and cackled victoriously. "You airheads! You fell right into my trap!"

 _I hate it when I'm right_.

Stormy Weather flung her arms out. The wind began to pick up around them, causing the snowflakes that had been drifting almost lazily towards the ground to whip around in a frenzy. A funnel formed over their heads and Chat Noire's ears flattened at the eerie howling noise that filled the air as the windstorm descended towards them.

"Damn," Ladybug growled. "I can't fly us out of this."

Stormy Weather leered down at them. "There's no way out! Party's over, fools!"

"You wanna—" Chat Noire took a step forward and the motion brought her hand, as well as Ladybug's hand still around hers, into her line of sight. She flashed him an annoyed look and he grinned sheepishly, letting go. She glared up at Stormy Weather. "You wanna bet?!" she demanded. She cast her eyes around the rooftop for something that would be of use to them unlucky.

"Do your thing, minou." Ladybug stepped in front of her and extended his staff to its fighting length. "I'll buy you time. ELSA! WHY DON'T YOU JUST LET IT GO?"

Chat Noire groaned and Stormy Weather looked decidedly unimpressed. So she retaliated by bringing a shower of hail down upon their heads. Ladybug took this development in stride and spun the baton over their heads to deflect the balls of ice.

"Any time now, minou!"

"…Got it!" Chat Noire announced, pulling her yo-yo from her belt. "Keep her busy for me, then when it's time, go for the parasol. You'll know."

Ladybug nodded once just as the hail storm ceased. He hooked his staff to his belt and rolled his shoulders. "Wings out!" Thin wings flared to life on his back with a flash of red and he leaped into the air. "HEY! THAT'S A NICE PARASOL! MIND IF I HAVE A LOOK?"

Stormy Weather snarled and hurled a bolt of lightning at him. Ladybug laughed and dodged it easily. He dipped and arced, swerving and spiraling through the air around her in a large circle while taunting her with his rambunctious laughter and insulting her aim. On the second rotation, just as Stormy Weather turned, Chat Noire hurled her yo-yo at the akumatized girl. As luck would have it, she chose that exact moment to extend her arm to attack him again so when the yo-yo coiled around her body, her arm and the parasol were free. She let out a shriek of protest and struggled against her binds.

Chat Noire grunted in exertion and _pulled_.

Stormy screamed as she was pulled towards the ground, thrashing and kicking, having forgotten her own ability to fly it would seem. Ladybug seized the opportunity and hurtled through the air towards her. He snatched the parasol from the girl's hand and soared away. Stormy screamed again in protest and heaved against Chat's hold but she did not relent. Chat gave one last tug then leaped onto Stormy Weather's back.

Her added weight was entirely unexpected and Stormy couldn't compensate in time. They plummeted to the ground. Pain blossomed through Chat's side when they landed but she ignored it, rolled to her feet, and pounced on Stormy Weather before she could escape. Then she looked up.

Ladybug floated about twenty feet over their heads. The purified akuma was already fluttering away and he was feeding the corrupted energy into the slot in his baton. He caught her eye for a moment, grinned, and then cast his cure. Red light exploded from his wings and zipped away to repair the damage done to the city.

Stormy stiffened and Chat backed off just as the wave of dark magic bubbled across her skin and she was reverted back to normal. A blonde, blue-eyed girl in a teal polka-dotted dress blinked, looked around, and gasped. "What am I doing here?" Aurore tried to sit up and noticed the string binding one of her arms to her torso. "What's going on?!"

"Hi," Chat greeted and smiled warmly. Aurore's head whipped around. Her eyes traveled up and down Chat Noire's form before widening. "You're Aurore, right? Let me just get this off you."

Aurore stammered incoherently for a few moments as Chat helped her sit and began to carefully unwind her yo-yo so as not to hurt her. She heard Ladybug land behind her. "What did…I…you…?" Aurore finally got out.

Chat gave her a sympathetic look. "It's not your fault."

The blonde gulped and looked between the two heroes. "Did I hurt anyone?" she demanded.

Hooking her yo-yo to her belt, Chat looked at Ladybug for confirmation and he shook his head. "Just scared people. Shot some lightning. Made it snow. Nothing major." He held out her parasol, intact and normal. "Here."

Now free of the yo-yo, Aurore hesitantly reached her hand towards her parasol. She hesitated just inches away as if unsure she should or even could take it. Ladybug nodded once in encouragement and Aurore took it from him.

"Are you okay?" Chat asked gently.

Aurore looked down at her parasol for a moment and then sniffled. "I worked so hard," she whispered. "I made it so far…I thought I could win. I was upset but I didn't even think that I could be targeted for it."

"For what it's worth, I voted for you," Chat said. Seeing as Plagg was a part of her as Chat Noire, it was only half a lie. Aurore looked up and smiled at her. "And it's not your fault. You didn't ask him to prey on you and you're not to blame for anything."

Ladybug's ring beeped.

Chat Noire smiled again at Aurore, stood up, and pointed to the door they'd come through. "That leads to stairs. You should be able to get out on your own. _À plus tard!_ "

She and Ladybug took off running and leaped off the edge of the roof together. They used their respective weapons to bring themselves safely onto the rooftops below and met up again just as she heard Ladybug's ring beep for a second time. He grinned at her in delight as he approached and extended his fist. "Bien joué, minou!"

Chat Noire grinned and bumped her fist against his. "Bien joué."

"Well, I'd love to stay and _chat_ but I was in the middle of a thing I need to get back to." He bowed theatrically to her and flashed her one of his charming grins. "Until next time."

She shoved his shoulder playfully. "Get going, before I swat you."

He laughed but did as he was told. He extended his baton against the ground and launched himself into the air. " _Salut!_ " he called over his shoulder.

" _Salut_ ," she echoed quietly, watching him go. He was heading in the direction of the Eiffel Tower, she noted. She'd have to take an indirect route home in order to ensure he wouldn't catch a glimpse of her on the way.

Fifteen minutes later, Chat landed on the building across from the park near her home. She was eager to get back to her room, finish the dress, and eat lunch. Her mother would probably be looking for her soon if she wasn't already. She'd have to walk through the front door and pop her head into the bakery. But what would her excuse be if they asked?

 _Think, Mari, think…_

"THERE YOU ARE!" a voice cried loudly from below, startling her. Chat turned curiously to see what the fuss was about.

An eccentrically dressed Italian man with a camera hanging from his neck and a rather large man holding a light diffuser sat on the steps of the fountain in the center of the park. The Italian man was gesturing wildly at the blonde boy approaching them, demanding to know where he'd run off to. The boy stammered through apologies and even though the sound of his voice tickled something in the back of her mind, Chat dismissed the faint possibility almost immediately. There was no way that could be _him_. His hair color was about the same but it was far too short and well-kept. His posture was all wrong. Though she couldn't quite be sure, his face shape didn't seem right either.

With a snort, Chat Noire leaped away from the park towards her home. As if. There was no way that in a city of millions she could have simply stumbled across him.

No, no. She had more important things to worry about. Like how the heck she was going to explain _her_ absence to her parents. 'Hiding from an akuma' may have worked for the boy but she got the feeling it wasn't going to for her.

* * *

 **trolololol *ducks*  
**


	12. Stone Heart - Troisième

**Well I mean it should be obvious that these are the origins episodes. They're out in French/English/Korean now so if you haven't seen 'em that's on you.**

* * *

On the first day of school, Marinette woke up feeling homicidal. Her phone alarm's squawks were ignored for several minutes by its owner in protest. Maybe if she snubbed it for long enough it would go away, she could go back to sleep, and school would just…be cancelled. But then Plagg growled and crawled out from beneath the blankets where they'd burrowed to slam his paws against her phone screen. The alarm ceased and she sighed in relief. Wonderful, now she could go back to—

"Get up, Marinette," Plagg ordered. "Your infernal thing woke _me_ up so you have to be up as well."

"No," she grumbled. "We should both go back to sleep."

He was silent for a moment, probably considering the notion. "Don't you have school today? I mean, I'm all for going back to sleep, but isn't school required? I won't have one of my cats be uneducated when she has other options."

Marinette scowled and a moment later, a small but very solid mass landed on her face. She recoiled. Plagg's eyes glowed through the seams of her blanket, just an inch from her own. "Up."

Her phone alarm started up again right then and Plagg yowled in protest. His weight left her and Marinette quickly emerged from her cocoon of blankets to deal with her phone before it met its end at the hands of an irate kwami.

Marinette slid out of bed and made her way down to the kitchen. Her mother had some breakfast set out for her but she herself was nowhere to be found. Knowing that would not be the case for long, Marinette quickly grabbed some cheese from the fridge and darted back upstairs to give it to Plagg. When she came back down, her mother was there.

"Good morning, sweetheart," Sabine greeted her. "Ready for your first day?"

Marinette sighed and sat down at the counter. "Not really. Chloe will probably in my class again."

"For the fourth year in a row? You think that's possible?"

"Well, I'm unlucky enough for it," Marinette grumbled, smirking to herself at her joke.

"It's a new year, I'm sure everything will be fine!"

She ate her breakfast quickly then headed upstairs to get ready for class. She chose a pair of cute pink jeans, her favorite shirt, black blazer, and ballet flats. She stood in front of her vanity mirror for a few minutes, trying to decide what to do with her hair. She'd favored a bun for most of the last year but it had gotten old. The last few weeks she'd been pulling it back in a ponytail but she'd done pigtails when she debuted her new dress and they'd looked pretty cute.

Pigtails it was.

She and Plagg had discussed his arrangements during school hours the day before. He couldn't stay home while she went to school since there would likely be akuma attacks during the day and he needed to be with her in case there were. Plus, she didn't feel comfortable being away from Plagg. She felt vulnerable. So, no, as much as he didn't want to spend hours tucked away, he wouldn't be staying home. She didn't trust him in her backpack for hours on end so after ten minutes of searching her room, she had procured a clutch purse small enough that she could easily carry it everywhere but large enough for him to comfortably fit.

She motioned for him to get in and Plagg complained about it for a minute but finally settled himself into the small purse. He tossed and turned a few times to get comfortable and then sighed. "I'm going to need something to do in here," he warned her.

"We'll figure it out later," she promised him and shut the clasp.

Downstairs, her father had prepared a present for her to take and share with her classmates and teachers. He presented the box to her, filled with green macaroons bearing their bakery's new logo, with a grin on his face and she squee-ed in delight. "They're so pretty!"

"Glad you like them," he replied and closed the box, handing it to her.

"Thank you, _papa!"_ she cried. "My class is going to love them. You're the best!"

"We're the best," Tom corrected and ruffled her hair. "Thanks to the new logo you designed."

Marinette beamed with pride and threw her arms her father's neck without thinking. The box fell from her hand but, fortunately, her father caught it with his foot. He handed it back to her with a raised eyebrow and fond smile.

Marinette laughed sheepishly. "Oops. Thanks."

Sabine gave her her backpack. She kissed both their cheeks and ran out of the bakery. Her parents called out goodbyes after her just before the door shut.

She made it to school without incident and up to their classroom on the second floor. Her homeroom teacher was Miss Bustier, a slender redheaded woman who was very pretty in Marinette's opinion, and also the literature teacher. She smiled briefly at Marinette as she entered. "Could you close the door behind you, please?"

Marinette did as she was asked then scampered up to the second row of desks to her seat from last year. Her best friend Alya was already waiting for her. "Hey girl," she greeted as Marinette plopped down onto the bench. "Are those from your Dad?"

"Mmhmm. Want one?" she asked, opening the box.

"Heck yeah." Alya picked one from the box and took a bite.

"Nino," Miss Bustier called, "why don't you sit in the front this year?"

The boy in question grumbled in protest but slunk down the steps from the back row and slumped onto the bench in front of Alya. The blogger sighed and patted his shoulder.

"Don't worry, man, it'll be alright. You're up here with the cool kids now."

Nino looked between her and Marinette almost skeptically then his eyes fell on the box of macaroons. His expression lit up. "Maaarriii, if you share, I will love you forever."

Marinette giggled and pushed the box towards him. "Go ahead. They're for everyone."

"Really?" Alix piped up from across the room. She scrambled to get out of her desk past Mylene. "Yo, gimmie."

Both girls got up, followed quickly by Kim and Max, lured by the prospect of sweets from the Dupain-Cheng bakery. When Juleka and Ivan arrived, they both immediately made a beeline for Marinette's seat, and so, too, did Rose and Nathanael when they showed up a moments later. She noticed Miss Bustier looking their way and she took two macaroons down to the front desk. For a few blissful minutes, Marinette was the hero of her class (in more ways than one, but they didn't need to know that) and it seemed like the great start to the year.

Then Chloe Bourgeois walked in the room and her eyes immediately locked onto Marinette.

She groaned inwardly but offered the blonde brat a smile and a macaroon anyway because she was determined to be the better person. Chloe, however, turned up her nose. "As if. Now move. That's my seat."

Marinette blinked, glancing at Alya who was just as bewildered, then frowned. "No. This is my seat, it's always been."

"Not anymore," Sabrina, Chloe's only friend in school (and probably anywhere), chirped from Alya's other side. In true Sabrina fashion, she had arrived without anyone noticing. "New year, new seat."

"So move," Chloe ordered. "Both of you. The front row is wide open over there."

Marinette bristled at the challenge, the cat in her growling in response. Or maybe that was just Plagg. "Why don't you just sit there, then?" she asked through her teeth at the same time Alya blurted out, "Uh uh!"

"Because today Adrien is coming and since that—" she pointed at the spot next to Nino "—will be his seat, this will be my seat. Understood?"

"No." Marinette snapped. "And who's Adrien?"

Chloe and Sabrina laughed mocking. Marinette frowned again. Really, who was Adrien? Was she supposed to know that name, or something? She tried to wrack her brain but she was coming up blank.

"I must be dreaming," Chloe sneered. "She doesn't know who Adrien is. Unbelievable. What planet have you been living on?"

"He's a famous model," Sabrina explained. "Super famous."

"And _I'm_ his best friend." She placed her hand over her heart dramatically. "He's crazy about me. So move."

"No. We were here first and these are our seats. Deal with it." With that, Marinette turned her back to Chloe and pushed the box of Macaroons towards Sabrina. "Would you like one?"

The red-haired girl blinked in surprise at this new development. She glanced at Chloe but looked away just as quickly. "S-sure," she said quietly. She reached for the macaroons, ignoring Chloe's affronted scoff, then scurried down to the front row.

Marinette refused to look around but saw Alya giving Chloe a very pointed look. First day of school and already she was ready and willing to throw down with Chloe. Though she hadn't been in the same class as them last year, Alya was quite aware of the way the blonde's bitchiness had only continued to increase, particularly towards Marinette. Marinette was quite capable of taking care of herself, now more than ever, but it was nice to know Alya was firmly in her corner once more.

Why wasn't Alya a superhero, again? She made a mental note to ask Plagg if there were other kwami and how one could go about convincing them to bestow their Miraculous on specific individuals.

"Chloe, take your seat," Miss Bustier ordered. "Either next to Nino or next to Sabrina."

With a huff, Chloe stormed off to sit next to her friend.

Nino exhaled in relief and twisted in his seat. "Look who finally grew a backbone," he teased. Marinette stuck her tongue out at him. "Good thing, too. I'd rather have _her—_ " he jerked his head at Alya "—behind me over the harpies any day."

"I'll take that as a compliment," Alya replied, lifting her nose primly.

Miss Bustier cleared her throat to quiet the class. "Attention everyone! For those who don't know me yet, I'm Miss Bustier. I'll be your homeroom teacher this year…."

Homeroom passed without incident. Chloe cast frequent glances towards the door, first annoyed, then angry, then…the closest thing to concern anyone had ever witnessed from her. The mysterious 'Adrien' never showed his face. It was just as well, Marinette reasoned. Anyone who was best friends with Chloe was not someone they would be interested in meeting. The last thing they needed was a male version of Chloe to back her up.

At the end of the period, Miss Bustier dismissed them to go to gym or the library, depending on what option they'd chosen. Marinette and Alya were gathering their things when Ivan let out a furious roar behind them.

Now, Ivan was the kind of person who intimidated strangers. He was huge and hulking, much like Marinette's father. Unlike Tom Dupain, Ivan didn't have a cheerful smile and friendly eyes to offset his fierce appearance. His eyes were dark and narrow and his face was almost constantly set in a scowl. He wore black from head to toe and if his shirts didn't have crossbones on them, then there was a skull, or some other creepy symbol on them. But all one had to do was get to know him to realize that he was a gentle giant. Sure he had a temper but he was a classic case of 'rough exterior, soft interior.' Especially when it came to a certain small, stout girl in their class….

So when Ivan out of nowhere, let out a roar of fury, the entire class was rightfully alarmed. Marinette's Chat instincts kicked in and she whipped around before the sound even died in his throat. Others, like Rose, saw Ivan's upraised fist and Kim's taunting smirk, and got the hell out of Dodge immediately. Marinette stood, ready to diffuse the situation, but Miss Bustier beat her to it.

"Ivan, what are you doing?!"

"It's Kim!" Ivan protested. "I'm gonna make him taste—"

"Ivan, go calm yourself in the principle's office!"

Ivan growled and crumpled up a piece of paper Marinette hadn't noticed before, grabbed his backpack, and stalked out of class. Marinette's stomach churned nervously. Whatever Kim had done had set Ivan on a dangerous path, one she knew could easily end in pain and destruction. But…no. Not today. It was the first day of school. Surely Hawkmoth wouldn't target kids on their first day of school? …Right? He had to remember what the first days were like.

…

On second thought, she needed to keep an eye on him.

"What the heck, Kim?" Alya demanded. "What did you do to him?"

Kim grinned slyly. "Nothing," he said as he gathered his things. "Just trying to give him a nudge in the right direction."

"Somehow, I get the feeling that the principle's office on the first day isn't the right direction."

"Hey, I was just tryin' to help. Not my fault he overreacted." With that, Kim left the room. Marinette glanced at Miss Bustier but the woman didn't seem to have heard the conversation.

Alya sighed. "C'mon. Library. Unless you signed up for gym without telling me?"

Marinette laughed a bit nervously and shook her head. Her in gym? _Chat Noire_ in gym? Probably not a good idea. "Go on a head. I need to put the macaroons in my locker."

Alya agreed easily and they parted ways outside the classroom. Marinette did indeed stuff the baked goods and her backpack in her locker but she had no indention of going to the library just yet. Not until she made sure Ivan was calm. She could feel Plagg wriggling around in her clutch like he wanted to come out so she quickly ducked into the bathroom, checking to make sure it was empty, then opened her clutch. Plagg's head poked out.

"Who was that girl?" he demanded. He certainly didn't mean Alya.

"Chloe Bourgeois," Marinette growled. "She's the mayor's daughter and Paris's biggest brat."

Plagg frowned and his whiskers twitched. "The way she spoke to you…"

"Chloe is to Marinette what Hawkmoth is to Chat Noire."

Plagg's green eyes widened before narrowing into slits. His hissed softly. "We should—"

A loud crash shook the entire building and without her catlike reflexes, Marinette would've topped over. She caught herself against the wall and Plagg yowled in protest.

"KIIIIIIIIIM!" a monstrous voice thundered above their heads.

Marinette let out a low moan, "Nooo." Ignoring Plagg's grumbling, she pushed off the wall and ran out into the courtyard.

Then someone shrieked, "AKUMAAAAAA!" and suddenly there was a mad rush for the school entrance as students and teachers alike tried to flee the campus. Clearly, despite the frequent attacks over the summer, the school hadn't implemented any sort of Akuma Emergency Plan. Marinette was able to blend in with the crowd and although she didn't see Alya anywhere, she knew the blogger would undoubtedly make an appearance once Chat Noire did.

Before she made it to the front doors, however, the screaming from the front of the crowd increased in fervor and suddenly the tide shifted. Students were swarming back _into_ the school. The building shook once more from a mighty crash and Marinette flinched. She fought her way out of the crowd and headed for the exit.

The akuma was a giant stone golem. It walked upright and screamed with Ivan's voice, distorted and gravelly. Before her eyes, it picked up a car just as its passengers fled, and hurled it across the railing into the Seine.

Marinette made a beeline for home, snuck in through the side door, and ran up to her room. Luckily for her, her parents were busy in the bakery and didn't notice her entrance. She was able to transform in peace and Chat Noire climbed out through the trapdoor. She was already preparing to go it alone this time. Ladybug was undoubtedly in class right now and since it wasn't his school being attacked, there was no reason for his teachers to cancel or to even know yet. Good thing she had her yo-yo to hold the akuma in or she would be in trouble.

Oh, but, what about when she transformed back!? What would happen to the akuma then? She wouldn't be able to use Jinx until she knew for certain.

A fight alone and without Jinx. Wonderful. Just wonderful.

Grumbling to herself, Marinette leaped off the balcony, throwing out her yo-yo, and swung after the akumatized Ivan. From what she had seen so far, he wasn't interested in hurting anyone although if the way he screamed his tormentor's name was any indication, Kim would be in serious trouble when Ivan caught up to him. He had to be heading for the stadium where the school took students for their gym classes. If she could somehow stop him before he got there….

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!"

 ** _CRASH_**

Ooh, correction: he was not interested in hurting anyone but he didn't seem to care if they got hurt indirectly in his wake of destruction.

Chat Noire followed him from a safe distance on the rooftops, observing. No way in hell she was going down there unprepared. As far as she could tell, he was intent on plowing through the city and destroying anything in his path. Apart from super strength he didn't seem to have any powers at all or means of defense other than his stone skin. There was no sign of anything anywhere on his body that could have been corrupted. It would be _just_ her luck for him to be one of the ones where the object was embedded into his skin.

A helicopter flew overhead and she knew better than to hope she hadn't been spotted already. She wouldn't be able to remain idle much longer now that the eyes of the city were undoubtedly on her. Hopefully the footage of her stalking the akuma would be enough to spur Ladybug into getting creative and getting here ASAP.

When Ivan reached a traffic jam, Chat Noire realized it was time to intercede. "HEY! ROCKY!" she shouted to get his attention. "UP HERE!

(Perhaps Rocky wasn't the best name she could've chosen but in absence of his akuma name, it was better than just calling him Ivan.)

Rocky looked up at her and roared wordlessly. A purple outline that was only too familiar appeared around his face. Now was the part where he would start demanding her Miraculous. Instead of waiting for Hawkmoth to finish instructing his pawn, Chat Noire leaped off the rooftops and landed between Rocky and the cars. People screamed behind her and fled.

The symbol disappeared and Rocky growled at her. "Your earrings," he rumbled, "give them to me."

"No!" she shouted. "You don't have to do this! Whatever's bothering you, we can—"

"Give them to me!" he repeated. "Or I'll break you!"

She flattened her ears and began to whirl her yo-yo threateningly at her side. "Let's go, then!"


	13. Stone Heart - Lonely Boy

**Well it's probably one of the shorter chapters I'll write for this thing...**

* * *

Adrien was having a bad day.

The grand plan he and Chloe had concocted had gone to the pot rather quickly. Like, ridiculously quickly. How was it that he had spent most of the summer sneaking out almost every night as Ladybug without getting caught but when he tried to sneak out as Adrien, he couldn't make it through the gate without raising the alarm?

In hindsight, it had to be Chloe's fault. "Nothing's going to go wrong!" she'd assured him the night before.

Famous last words.

He hadn't even made it inside the school before he was thwarted by Nathalie and the Gorilla. It was probably only thanks to Ladybug's luck he'd even made it that far. Tikki had tried to soothe him in her own way from inside his shirt although Nathalie gave him no opportunity to be alone with his kwami for a proper pep talk. Oh, no. No. That would've been too nice. Instead he had to immediately begin his lessons.

He spent the entire time only half paying attention and wondering what Chloe was doing. She'd promised to save him a seat right in the front—he read that the front was the best place to sit if you wanted to be able to pay attention and catch everything. It also showed that you were willing to pay attention. Chloe must have figured out by now that he wasn't coming. Had she tried texting him? Was she going to try to visit during her lunch break? She'd been so dead set on him joining her at school, how was he supposed to talk her down now that their plans had been thwarted?

Then his father arrived and Adrien realized that Nathalie had snitched. After a brief argument in which Gabriel left no room for argument, Adrien fled to his room. Where he apparently was going to stay locked for the rest of his childhood. As he was laying on his bed with his face buried in his pillow and a sorrowful kwami nuzzling his hair, it occurred to Adrien that he could very well go the next four years with Ladybug as his only escape. And now with her in school and him…not…he was going to be facing many nights by himself.

Once again he mourned not knowing her identity. It was too much to hope that she went to school close enough to make it here during her lunch hour or something but maybe his continued confinement wouldn't be so bad if he could at least text her. …He was going to have to pretend that everything was normal with her. That he was going to school like a normal kid and not being homeschooled like some rich kid with a stifling father who was so scared of _something_ that he refused to let him be like the others.

Adrien raised his head. "I'm going to go my entire childhood only having two friends, Tikki," he realized aloud. "And neither of them will know the truth about me."

It was a good thing that his ring made him immune to akumas or else he would probably be in serious trouble right about now.

"I'm your friend," Tikki reminded him. "And I know the truth. But I also know what you mean and you shouldn't give up hope so easily. You've got a few years before you're an adult, right? That's plenty of time! Anything could happen!"

And then, of course, the screaming began. Adrien twisted around and stared out the window. No way. Not today of _all_ days. Loud thuds reached his ears then, one right after the other, almost like footsteps. No, _exactly_ like footsteps. Oh boy.

" _Anything_ , huh?" he muttered. Tikki covered her mouth with her paws. He heaved a sigh and pushed himself up. "Here we go."

"Well, at least you'll get to see Chat," Tikki pointed out.

Adrien shook his head. "It's her first day of school. We're probably going solo on this one, Tikki. _Transformer-_ _moi_!"

Ladybug had to be careful about getting out of his house. He usually opted to leave through his bathroom window but he wasn't sure where the akuma was relative to it or if there were any news choppers around. The last thing he needed was people witnessing _Ladybug_ coming out of _Adrien_ _Agreste's_ room. But as luck would have it, the cacophony was coming from the complete opposite side of the house and there were no helicopters in sight, though he could hear one nearby. He'd have to be quick.

He scurried onto his rooftop and then took off at a sprint, using his pole to vault himself across the street in the direction of the ruckus. It was only maybe a street over from his house so he didn't have far to go.

The first thing Ladybug noticed when he arrived on scene was the hulking golem lunging all over the place. The second was the tiny black figure bounding from surface to surface to dodge the punches being thrown at her. Ladybug was shocked. If Chat was already on scene then the akuma must have been loose for some time. In the span of two seconds he was able to deduce that she was entirely on the defensive. Her yo-yo was in her hand but she was making no attempt to use it.

The golem swung its huge fist at her and Chat Noire only just rolled out of the way in time. Ladybug buzzed angrily and leaped into the fray, bringing his staff down on the golem's head with a loud yell.

"LADYBUG NO!"

His staff made solid contact but had absolutely no effect. Ladybug flipped through the air and landed on the ground in a crouch. Then before his eyes, the golem grew in size. His jaw dropped.

"No fair!" he protested. Chat Noir landed at his side.

"No attacking," she ordered. "He's grown at least twice already. I have no idea where the akuma is yet."

"Noted. …Your hair is different," he added in surprise. Normally she wore her hair in a ponytail, low enough to hide her ears, but firm enough that he'd seen nary a hair out of place. Today, however, her hair hung over her shoulders in twin pigtails, bound with two pink ties. Her ears remained hidden from view like with her other hairstyle, thus keeping the illusion of the feline pair perched atop her head being real.

Chat Noire lifted her hand to one of her pigtails and let out a tiny, 'huh' of surprise. "I wasn't expecting that."

Ladybug smiled. "It suits you. Say, shouldn't you be in school?"

"Shouldn't you?"

"Uh, about that—"

Chat Noire sighed and rolled her shoulders. "Well, at least we get to be truant together."

Ladybug grinned and straightened up. "If I go down, you're coming with me?"

"Exactly."

"Ladybug! Chat Noire!" The golem bellowed, startling Ladybug back to the matter at hand. "Give me your Miraculous!"

The golem lumbered towards them and they leaped out of the way.

"Who's ugly?" he asked as he vaulted over a car. Chat Noire bounded across the hood behind him.

"A collége student," she answered immediately and he looked at her in shock. Was it someone she _knew_?

His attention was caught by the sound of metal groaning. He whipped around. The golem hefted the car over its head without as much as a grunt of effort. Ladybug's eyes flipped wide.

"Scatter!" Chat yelped and disappeared from his side. He dove forward just as it hurled the car. He slid between the golem's legs and flipped himself upright on the other side.

"Up!" Chat Noire's voice but he couldn't see where she was. Still, he knew better than to disobey an order like that. He extended his staff and catapulted over the golem's head onto the rooftops. She landed beside him a moment later and grabbed his arm.

"Keep running!" she ordered. Below them, the golem roared and slammed its fist into the building. The entire structure shuddered and Ladybug wobbled unsteadily. Chat tugged on his arm to balance him and then sprinted away across the rooftops. He followed quickly.

The golem's roar echoed after them.

"What are we doing?!" Ladybug yelled. "We can't just run away!"

"We're not!" Chat called over her shoulder. "But we need a plan and that isn't going to happen while trying to dodge him!"

Though it didn't feel right to leave the scene, he could at least see the logic behind her decision. They didn't go far, only a few blocks. He could still hear the golem roaring periodically but after about a minute of running, he realized that they were different. Instead of being wordless or of their names, he was saying something else. …It almost sounded like…the word 'kill' in English.

Not good.

Chat Noir alighted on top of a spindly chimney that didn't look nearly sturdy enough to support her weight then dropped down onto the rooftop. Ladybug landed beside her and tucked his baton into its holster on his back.

"How do we fight something we can't attack?" He wondered aloud. "And do you have any idea where the akuma is in all of that stone?"

Chat Norie shook her head. "And before you ask, I already tried binding him. He couldn't break free but that didn't stop him from trying. And knocking me into a car in the process. We're not going to be able to take him head on like this."

"Okaaaaay." Ladybug folded his arms. "How do you know he's a collége student?"

She raised her eyebrows. "I have a friend who goes to school nearby," she replied without missing a beat. "She texted me when he appeared."

"Wait. Does this friend _know_ who you are?" Ladybug tried to ignore the twinge of hurt at the thought that someone else…some… _outsider_ …knew his minou on both sides of her mask while he didn't get to.

To his immense relief, she shook her head. "No, she was just warning me."

" _KIIIIIIIIIIIILL!"_ the golem roared distantly. Both heroes turned their heads as the echo faded away.

"Is he saying ' _kill_ '?" Ladybug asked after a moment.

"Kim," Chat corrected. "It's a name."

"Sucks to be Kim."

She laughed once under her breath. "We need to know what set him off. Or what the corrupted object is. Anything."

"I could always buzz around him while you hunt," Ladybug offered but she shook her head immediately.

"Too risky. I can't have you timing out on me."

He sighed and folded his arms. "Well what do you suggest then?"

The tip of Chat Noire's tail began to flick from side to side and his eyes were drawn to it like always. She was in the zone. He smiled, despite himself.

"I think I know how to get the answers," she said after a moment. "But you're not going to like it."

"Minou, I hate half your plans, but that doesn't make them any less effective. What do you need me to do?"

Chat Noire smiled at him and her ears perked up at the praise. "I need you to keep Rocky occupied."

"…Rocky?"

"He hasn't said his name yet. I've just been calling him Rocky, don't worry about it." She waved her hand dismissively. "I'm going to visit my friend's school and see if I can't find out who this 'Kim' is."

"And you don't want me to come with you so I'm on babysitting duty," he guessed.

"Yes," she admitted, "to the first part. But we also need to be seen making an effort to control the akuma. People won't care that I've gone below the radar if you're out there drawing their attention. They like you more, anyway."

Ladybug inclined his head. She wasn't wrong. He'd noticed the people seemed to speak higher of him than of her. He wasn't quite sure if he should read too much into it yet. It had only been a few weeks since their debut and neither of them had ventured into the public eye except when necessary. He was certain that if people got to know her, the public opinion would shift.

"But most importantly, slow him down. He can't reach Kim before we do."

He bowed at the waist, sweeping his arm out in a grand gesture. "As you wish, minou. I'll buy you time."

Chat smiled. "Thanks, Buggy. I'll call you when I know something."

They took off in opposite directions, her presumably towards her friend's school and him towards the source of the roar rumbling through the air. Damn. Whoever this Kim guy was, he'd really messed up.

* * *

 **Reminder: you can always come follow me on tumblr (wintermoth). I reblog a LOT of Miraculous Ladybug ^-^ and I'm always willing to talk about this AU.**


	14. Stone Heart - Rock Monster

**LOL I'M BACK.**

 **I'm still working on Guardians but I figured it was high time I continued this as well.**

* * *

No one was prepared for a superhero to fall from the sky and land among their gym class. Most of them screamed and jumped away from her. Max dropped the ball he was holding and Rose actually fell over. The whole thing would have been hilarious to Chat Noire if she hadn't been on a mission. She straightened up and squared her shoulders to seem more imposing. Her eyes immediately located Kim but she quickly looked away and surveyed the students surrounding her. It wouldn't be a good idea for her to make it obvious that she knew who she was looking for.

"C-Chat Noire?" Monsieur D'Argencourt stammered, completely aghast, before quickly composing himself. "What is the meaning of this? We are having a class."

"Sorry, monsieur, but this is more important. I'm looking for a boy named Kim." She looked around at the students again.

"Uh…that's me," Kim announced and she turned to face him. He lowered his hand. "Sup?"

Chat Noire stalked towards him, tail lashing. "An akuma, that's what. An akuma that's been screaming your name like mantra and is likely on his way here."

Kim paled. "W-what? How…are you sure it's me?"

"I have it on good authority that it came from your school and one of your classmates said I would be able to find you here. Last I saw, the akuma was heading in this direction. So, yeah, pretty sure."

"Ivan!" Rose gasped. "It must be. Kim, how could you?!"

Kim sputtered, looking between Rose and Chat, then at the faces of his assembled peers who were frowning at him. "It wasn't my fault!" he protested.

"What did you do?" Chat Noire asked. "You can whisper to me if you don't want the others to know but I _need_ to. We don't have a lot of options at this point because every time he's attacked, he grows bigger and stronger. Neither of us can find his corrupted object and if it's imbedded in his skin, somehow, we need to know exactly what it is we're looking for. Start talking."

Kim's mouth opened but nothing came out. At least he seemed to be comprehending the gravity of the situation.

"I think, perhaps, we should vacate the premises post-haste." D'Argencourt objected.

"You can go," Chat Noire said. "In fact, you should. Get as far from here as you can. But this one isn't going anywhere until he talks."

The students began moving towards the exit but D'Argencourt remained in his place. "He is my pupil—"

"Giant rampaging rock monster!" Chat Noire retorted. "On its way here, breaking everything in its path!"

"I will not—"

 _"KIIIIIIIIIIIIM!"_

Chat Noire's ears swiveled in the direction of the roar but she otherwise remained motionless. She wasn't even sure the rest of the class had heard it until D'Argencourt let out a quiet, strangled sound. Kim's face paled.

"Giant. Rampaging. Rock monster," Chat repeated slowly. There was a flurry of movement as the rest of the class scampered for the doors. Kim tried to follow but Chat threw her arm out and caught him around the midsection. "And it's your fault."

"Alright!" Kim yelped. Glancing around, he leaned closer to Chat Noire and murmured a recount of what had transpired during homeroom. Chat Noire tried to keep the surprise off her face. Apparently, Kim had written Ivan a note calling him out for being unable to confess to Mylène. No wonder he had reacted so strongly! "I was trying to motivate him. Honest," Kim insisted as he finished.

"Well, I don't think he realized that." Chart Noire shook her head. "But I think I know where the akuma is. Thanks. Now, go." She gave him a push towards the door. "It's not safe here. Get as far away as you can and don't go anywhere he'd think to look for you!"

Kim took off across the field and with one final look of disapproval at the hero, D'Argencourt followed.

Chat Noire shook her head and pulled her yo-yo from her belt and flipped open the communicator to call Ladybug. He didn't answer immediately which she took to mean he was engaging with Rocky somehow.

Ladybug finally picked up after about twenty seconds and from the looks of things, he was in a tree. "What did you find, minou?"

"Do you have eyes on Rocky?"

"Stone Heart," Ladybug corrected off-handedly, craning his neck to see over his shoulder, "and yeah. Why?"

"Look at his right fist. Is it still closed?"

The screen blurred from the movement and she heard his boots scraping against wood. The image settled and she could see him squinting at something over the top of his baton. "Yes. …Wait. I think I see where you're going."

"He hasn't opened it once, has he?"

"Not that I can think of. He's punched with it but he's doing all the grabbing with his left."

"It's in his fist."

"Are you _sure_?" he asked, looking back into the camera.

"The akuma is likely in a wadded up piece of paper. Where do you carry something like that?"

"In your hand." Ladybug grumbled. "Great. Where are you?"

"The nearby stadium, some of the kids from the college were having class. I sent them away. But it doesn't matter, I'm coming back to you."

"About two blocks east from Tour Montparnasse _._ I'm trying to herd him but he just keeps swatting me. I'm running out of options here."

"Keep your wings in, I'm on my way." Chat Noire snapped her communicator shut and flung her yo-yo towards the open ceiling above her. It caught on the edge and she went sailing through the air. She stopped on the roof long enough to check that Kim and co were well on their way away from the stadium, then she located the Tour not too far away, and took off.

She heard Stone Heart before she saw him. He was shouting for something to "GET OUT OF HERE!" and "HOLD STILL!" just a few seconds after. Chat smiled to herself, despite everything. That would be Ladybug being Ladybug. Two helicopters, one for a local news station and the other for the police, were circling overhead and she figured that must be where the fight was occurring.

When Chat arrived, she paused only to assess the situation, and then she hurled her yo-yo at Stone Heart's fist as he was drawing back to punch. The akuma paused and twisted around to see what had stopped him. Then he growled and pulled. This time, Chat was ready, and she triggered the release mechanism just after she felt the tug. She used the momentum he'd given her to launch herself at him and landed directly on his face.

Chat Noire grinned at him and meowed loudly.

"Get off me!" Stone Heart bellowed, reaching up with his left hand to smash her but she let go, landing on the outcropping of his chest. Instead his hand connected with his face and he staggered, limbs flailing, and Chat sprang off him entirely, flipping backwards through the air, and landed on all fours.

Stone Heart tipped backwards and landed on the hood of a nearby car, stunned.

Chat Noire skittered back, retracting her yo-yo. Ladybug dropped down next to her a few seconds later. "So what's the plan?"

"Well, there's two of us and he has two hands…. Oh. Oh! Do you trust me?" she asked, grabbing his arm. Stone Heart was on his feet and they were out of time. Ladybug nodded, wide-eyed. "Good. Then wait ten seconds then fly in and rescue me!"

"What?! CHAT!" he shouted after her but she was already sprinting towards the akuma.

"HEY!" she shrieked up at him. "Betchya can't catch me!" She jumped again, aiming for his face, but he was ready for her this time. Eyes squeezed shut, Chat Noire braced for impact…but even that wasn't enough to prepare her for the feeling of a massive stone hand snatching her body out of the air. The air rushed out of her lungs and she cried out, or she tried to, but it came out as a weird little rasp.

Tight. It was incredibly tight and she could feel her insides being squished and her muscles screamed in protest. But she could still breathe! That was good, right? _Ow, ow, ow I should've thought this through more—_

"LET HER GO!"

Chat Noire glanced over her shoulder and saw Ladybug literally flying through the air with a look of fury on his face. As she'd predicted, Stone Heart reached up to grab the oncoming threat and as he did, she spotted a black piece of wadded up paper fall to the ground.

What she hadn't predicted was what would happen next.

Ladybug swung his baton up and nailed Stone Heart right in the chin. His grip tightened on her reflexively as he fell and he was _crushing, crushing, crushing…_ The jolt as Stone Heart impacted with the ground was so jarring she swore she felt her brain bouncing around inside her skull. Her teeth clacked together and the arm that was closes to the ground suddenly flared with white hot pain.

Another pained noise left her throat. _This was a bad idea._

And then the pressure was gone, disappeared as if it had never been there, and the only indicator that it ever had been was the pain her body which worsened when she hit the ground. She yelped and curled in on herself. A weak rumbling sputtered and died in her chest and she wondered why it felt like she was trying to purr at a time like this….

Then Ladybug was there fussing over her, hands flitting helplessly across her body, asking where it hurt, what was wrong, was she okay?

"Ow, ow, ow, ow," she whimpered and let out a low whine when he touched her wounded arm.

There was an angry buzzing over her. She opened her eyes and immediately found the source: his wings beating furiously enough that he was starting to lift off the ground. Ladybug looked up at the sky, his expression twisted in frustration, and he nodded to himself. Without a word, he leaped into the air and performed his magical cure. The swarm of ladybugs descended on her first, engulfing her body and easing the pain with a faint tickling sensation until there was nothing left.

Wings gone, Ladybug descended back to the ground on the tail end of the magic that let him fly. By the time his feet touched the ground, Chat Noire had pushed herself upright. _Note to self,_ she thought, _never do that again._

"What the heck kind of a stupid plan was that?" Ladybug snapped. "You could've been killed!"

She shook her head. "I knew I wouldn't be in danger for very long and I'm fine. See?" she rotated the arm that had been in agony just moments before. "No harm done."

Ladybug growled quietly. "The akuma got away."

"What?!" Chat shrieked. He looked away, ashamed now. "How could it get away?!"

"You were hurt. I was worried."

"You should've gone after it!"

"You were in pain," he replied simply. Chat Noire sighed exasperatedly but didn't press him further. It was obvious he wasn't going to regret what he'd done. Part of her was glad he'd been so quick to alleviate her pain. She just hoped this wasn't going to come back to bite them in the ass later.

"Where am I?"

Chat Noire turned around. Right. Ivan. He was looking around in confusion, one hand on his head. Chat pushed herself up and walked over to the piece of paper. Picking it up, she unfolded it to read the message for herself and then sighed. Kim had been trying…in his own twisted way to motivate him, but he'd really missed the mark on this one. Poor Ivan.

"A couple kilometers from your school," she told him.

Ivan lowered his hand, glancing between them. "I didn't…did I?"

"Afraid so, man," Ladybug answered.

Her classmate looked away, hunching his shoulders. "I didn't mean to. Kim he—he was making fun of me. I just got so angry and I…"

Chat Noire approached him. "Well…." Kneeling down, she held out the note. "Nothing like the prospect of a raging rock monster coming after them to make someone change their ways, right?"

Ivan considered this. "Maybe. If I'm lucky."

"Well, I can't help you there," she warned him with a mock grimace. "But maybe Ladybug would be willing to share some of his luck."

Ladybug rubbed the back of his head. "Sorry, my luck isn't working so well today, either." Then, as if to prove his point, his ring began beeping. He sighed. "Well, that's my cue. …You sure you're okay?"

Chat Noire nodded reassuringly. "What about the akuma?"

He shrugged helplessly. "Maybe it went back to Hawkmoth? I guess we'll see. Later, _minou_. Good luck with your uh…thing," he added for Ivan's benefit.

"Thank you?" Ivan replied.

Ladybug saluted and then catapulted away with his baton. Chat watched long enough to make sure he made it to the roof then turned back to Ivan and held out her hand. "Come on, I'll take you back to your school."


End file.
